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THE OLD SOUTH 



TI f E OLD SOUTH 

ESSAYS SOCIAL AND POLITICAL 



WITH A NEW PREFACE 



BY 

THOMAS NELSON PAGE 




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CHAUTAUQUA, NEW YORK 
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Copyright, 1892, 1919, by 
Charles Scribner's Sons 



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MY COUNTRYMEN 

AND 

COUNTRYWOMEN 



PREFACE TO NEW EDITION 

A peeface is usually either intimate or didactic. 
The first kind serves better the proper use of a preface 
to give the reader the true spirit in which a work is 
written and thus give the chance to read in that spirit 
of open-mindedness, and possibly sympathy, which 
alone can give either profit or pleasure. Without this 
spirit no book can be read as it should. To one read- 
ing in another spirit, a book is mere writing; poetry is 
mere verse; romance mere fiction; history mere annals 
or statistics, of which some one has wittily said the 
chief use is to refute other statistics. 

History, to be worth the name, must have its 
horizon and its background. Otherwise it is simply an 
isolated record which must be brought by some other 
hand into its proper perspective to have value. With- 
out this due relation, it is "no more history than loose 
bricks are a house." 

In this volume of early essays on the history of the 
Old South, I have only fluttered the leaves of the his- 
tory of our people, getting a glimpse only here and 
there of its full life with many, many pages left unseen. 

It is a far cry from an old plantation in Old Virginia 
to the Quirinal Hill; from the Fork Church Road to 
the street of the Twentieth of September. And yet, 
looking through these essays there is a connection be- 
tween them. In the years which these essays attempt 



viii PREFACE 

to reflect there was the movement of the same spirit 
of Liberty which has given the ancient Sabine High 
Road its modern name. 

In those years, sitting amid the ruins of an old 
civilization which had been swept away by war, we 
were just facing a new life. The old was passing 
away. The awakening was rude enough. But the 
new life was met, and the old had its part in it. It 
gave it that which was immortal. Strangely enough, 
in a land where Domestic Slavery had been implanted, 
it gave in increased measure the spirit of Liberty, It 
gave it the Immortality of Democracy. Its expounders 
from Jefferson to Wilson drank of the well beside the 
gate of that Bethlehem and to-day we find the foun- 
tain spreading into a river to water and make glad the 
new world. What matter if its course has been dif- 
ferent from that which the old seers foretold, if the 
future be somewhat veiled in mist! The mist will 
clear away, the sun will shine in the dark places and 
the world will be made "safe for Democracy." 

An old friend of mine, Joaquin Nabuco, formerly 
Brazilian Minister to Washington, said to me once: 
"Charon takes little luggage across to Posterity. 
Gather together your stories and essays on the Old 
South and its Life; pack them in small compass, and 
try him ! " 

I know that this kind speech was prompted by 
friendship, but I treasure it the more highly for that 
reason. Here is a part of the luggage to which he so 
graciously referred. 

Thos. Nelson Page. 
Rome, March 27, 1919. 



PREFACE 

Several of the within essays were delivered as 
addresses before literary Alumni Societies, and 
revision has not wholly availed to clear them from 
the rhetoric which insensibly crept into them. Be- 
ing, however, upon topics as to which there is much 
diversity of sentiment, this form of expression will 
at least serve to show the state of feeling where 
they were delivered and thus may not be without 
its use. The substance of the papers is what the 
author earnestly believes and what he is satisfied 
history will establish. 

The essays are given to the public in the hope 
that they may serve to help awaken inquiry into 
the true history of the Southern people and may 
aid in dispelling the misapprehension under which 
the Old South has lain so long. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The Old South 3 

Authorship in the South before the War . 57 
Glimpses of Life in Colonial Virginia ... 95 
Social Life in Old Virginia before the War 143 

Two Old Colonial Places 189 

The Old Virginia Lawyer 235 

The Want of a History of the Southern 

People 253 

The Negro Question 277 



THE OLD SOUTH 



THE OLD SOUTH 

In the selection of a theme for this occasion, I 
have, curious to relate, been somewhat embarrassed. 
Not that good subjects were not manifold, and mate- 
rial plentiful ; but for me, on this occasion, when I 
am to address this audience, in this presence, there 
could be but one subject — the best. 

I deem myself fortunate that I am permitted to 
address you on this spot; for this University, 
whose friend was George Washington and whose 
establisher was Eobert E. Lee, impresses me as the 
spot on earth to which my discourse is most appro- 
priate. Broad enough to realize the magnificent 
ideal of its first benefactor as a university where 
the youth of this whole country may meet and 
acquire the grand idea of this American Union, 
it is yet so distinctly free from the materialistic 
tendencies which of late are assailing kindred 
institutions and insidiously threatening even the 
existence of the Union itself, that it may be justly 
regarded as the citadel of that conservatism which, 
mated with immortal devotion to duty, may be 
termed the cardinal doctrine of the Southern civili- 
zation. 

8 



4 THE OLD SOUTH 

Something more than twenty years ago there fell 
upon the South a blow for which there is no paral- 
lel among the casualties which may happen to an 
individual, and which has rarely in history befallen 
nations. Under the euphemism of reconstruction 
an attempt was made after the war to destroy the 
South. She was dismembered, disfranchised, de- 
nationalized. The States which composed her were 
turned by her conquerors into military districts, 
and their governments were subverted to military 
tribunals. Virginia, that had given Washington, 
Jefferson, Henry, Nelson, the Lees, Madison, Mar- 
shall, and a host of others who had made the nation, 
became " District No. 1." 

The South was believed to be no more. It was 
intended that she should be no more. But God in 
his providence had his great purpose for her and 
he called her forth. With the old spirit strong 
within her she renewed her youth like the eagles, 
fixed her gaze upon the sun, and once more spread- 
ing her strong pinions, lifted herself for another 
flight. 

The outside world gazed astonished at her course, 
and said, this is not the Old South, but a new civil- 
ization, a New South. 

The phrase by imperative inference institutes 
invidious comparison with and implies censure of 
something else — of some other order — of a differ- 
ent civilization. 

That order, that civilization, I propose to dis< 
cuss briefly this evening ; to, so far as may be in 



THE OLD SOUTH O 

the narrow limits of an address, repel this censure ; 
show that comparison is a,bsurd, and that the New 
South is, in fact, simply the Old South with its 
energies directed into new lines. 

The civilization which is known by this name 
was as unique as it was distinct. It combined 
elements of the three great civilizations which 
since the dawn of history have enlightened the 
world. It partook of the philosophic tone of the 
Grecian, of the dominant spirit of the Roman, and 
of the guardfulness of individual rights of the 
Saxon civilization. And over all brooded a soft- 
ness and beauty, the joint product of Chivalry and 
Christianity. 

This individuality began almost with the first 
permanent Anglo-Saxon settlement of this conti- 
nent; for the existence of its distinguishing char- 
acteristics may be traced from the very beginning 
of the colonial period. The civilization flourished 
for two hundred and fifty years, and until its 
vitality, after four years of invasion and war, 
expired in the convulsive throes of reconstruc- 
tion. 

Its distinctiveness, like others of its character- 
istics, was referable to its origin, and to its subse- 
quent environing conditions. 

Its tendency was towards exclusiveness and con- 
servatism. It tolerated no invasion of its rights. 
It admitted the jurisdiction of no other tribunal 
than itself. The result was not unnatural. The 



6 THE OLD SOUTH 

world, barred out, took its revenge, and the Old 
South stands to-day charged with sterility, with 
attempting to perpetuate human slavery, and with 
rebellion. 

That there was shortcoming in certain directions 
may not be denied ; but it was not what is charged. 

If, when judged by the narrow standard of mere, 
common materialism, the Southern civilization fell 
short, yet there is another standard by which it 
measured the fullest stature : the sudden supremacy 
of the American people to-day is largely due to the 
Old South, and to its contemned civilization. 

The difference between the Southern civilization 
and the Northern was the result of the difference 
between their origins and subsequent surroundings. 

The Northern colonies of Great Britain in Amer- 
ica were the asylums of religious zealots and revo- 
lutionists who at their first coming were bent less 
on the enlargement of their fortunes than on the 
freedom to exercise their religious convictions, how- 
ever much the sudden transition from dependence 
and restriction to freedom and license may in a 
brief time have tempered their views of liberty and 
changed them into proscriptors of the most tyran- 
nical type. 

The Southern colonies, on the other hand, were 
from the first the product simply of a desire for 
adventure, for conquest, and for wealth. 

The Northern settlements were, it is true, founded 
under the law; but it was well understood that 



THE OLD SOUTH 7 

they contained an element which was not friendly to 
the government and that the latter was well satisfied 
to have the seas stretch between them. The South- 
ern, on the other hand, came with the consent of the 
crown, the blessing of the Church, and under the 
auspices and favor of men of high standing in the 
kingdom. They came with all the ceremonial of an 
elaborate civil government — with an executive, a 
council deputed by authorities at home, and for- 
mal and minute instructions and regulations. 

The crown hoped to annex the unknown land 
lying between the El Dorado, which Spain had ob- 
tained amid the summer seas, and the unbounded 
claims of its hereditary enemy, France, to the North 
and West. 

The Church, which viewed the independence of 
the Northern refugees as schism, if not heresy, gave 
to this enterprise its benison in the belief that "the 
adventurers for the plantations of Virginia were 
the most noble and worthy advancers of the stand- 
ard of Christ among the Gentiles." The company 
organized and equipped successive expeditions in 
the hope of gain ; and soldiers of fortune, and gen- 
tlemen in misfortune, threw in their lot in the cer- 
tainty of adventure and the probability that they 
might better their condition. 

Under such auspices the Southern colonies neces- 
sarily were rooted in the faith of the England from 
which they came — political, religious, and civil. 
Thus from the very beginning the spirit of the two 



8 THE OLD SOUTH 

sections was absolutely different, and their sur- 
rounding conditions were for a long time such as to 
keep them diverse. 

The first governor of the colony of Virginia was 
a member of a gentle Huntingdonshire family, and 
he was succeeded in office by a long line of men, 
most of them of high degree. In the first ship-load 
of colonists there were " four carpenters, twelve la- 
borers, and fifty-four gentlemen." 

John Smith, the strongest soul that planted the 
British spirit upon this continent, and who was 
himself a soldier of fortune, cried out in the bitter- 
ness of his heart against such colonists ; yet he came 
afterwards to note that these "gentlemen" cut down 
more trees in a day than the ordinary laborers. 

With the controversy as to whether or not the 
inhabitants of the Southern colonies were generally 
the descendants of Cavaliers it is not necessary to 
deal. It makes no difference now to the race which 
established this Union whether its ancestors fought 
with the Norman conqueror on Senlac Hill or 
whether they were among the " villains " who fol- 
lowed the standards of Harold's earls. It may, 
however, be averred that the gentle blood and high 
connection which undoubtedly existed in a consid- 
erable degree exerted widely a strengthening and 
refining power, and were potent in their influence to 
elevate and sustain not only the families which 
claimed to be their immediate possessors, but 
through them the entire colonial body, social and 
.politic. 



THE OLD SOUTH 9 

I make a prouder claim than this : the inhabi- 
tants of these colonies were the strongest strains of 
many stocks — Saxon, Celt, and Teuton ; Cavalier 
and Puritan. 

The ship-loads of artisans and adventurers who 
came, caught in time the general spirit, and found 
in the new country possibilities never dreamed of 
in the old. Each man, whether gentle or simple, 
was compelled to assert himself in the land where 
personal force was of more worth than family 
position, however exalted ; but having proved his 
personal title to individual respect, he was eager to 
approve likewise his claim to honorable lineage, 
which still was held at high value. The royal 
governors, with all the accompaniments of a vice- 
regal court, only so much modified as was necessary 
to suit the surroundings, kept before the people 
the similitude of royal state ; and generation after 
generation of large planters and thriving merchants, 
with broad grants acquired from the crown or by 
their own enterprise, as they rose, fell into the 
tendency of the age and perpetuated or augmented 
the spirit of the preceding generation. 

With the Huguenot immigration came a new 
accession of the same spirit, intensified in some 
directions, if tempered in others. 

As society grew more and more indulgent its 
demands became greater ; the comforts of life be- 
came more readily obtainable in the colonies just 
at the time that civil and religious restrictions 



10 THE OLD SOUTH 

became more burdensome in the old country, and 
the stream of immigration began to flow more 
freely. 

Slavery had become meantime a factor in the 
problem — potent at first for perhaps mitigated 
good, finally for immeasurable ill to all except 
the slaves themselves. 

This class of labor was so perfectly suited to the 
low alluvial lands of the tide- water section that each 
generation found itself wealthier than that which 
had preceded it, and it was evident that the limits 
between the mountains and the coast would soon 
be too narrow for a race which had colonized under 
a charter that ran " up into the land to the farthest 
sea." 

To this reason was added that thirst for adven- 
ture and that desire for glory which is a characteris- 
tic of the people, and in Virginia Spottswood and 
his Knights of the Golden Horseshoe set out to 
ride to the top of the Blue Eidge, which till then 
was the barricade beyond which no Saxon was 
known to have ventured, and from which it was 
supposed the Great Lakes might be visible. They 
found not "the unsalted seas," but one of the fair- 
est valleys on earth stretched before them ; and the 
Old Dominion suddenly expanded from a narrow 
province to a land from whose fecund womb com- 
monwealths and peoples have sprung. 

By a strange destiny, almost immediately suc- 
ceeding this discovery, the vitality of the colony 



THE OLD SOUTH 11 

received an infusion of another element, which 
became in the sequel a strong part of that life 
which in its development made the " Southern 
civilization." 

This element occupied the new valley and changed 
it from a hunting-ground to a garden. The first 
settler, it is said, came to it by an instinct as 
imperative as that which brought the dove back to 
the ark of safety. It was not the dove, however, 
which came when John Lewis settled in this valley ; 
but an eagle, and in his eyry he reared a brood of 
young who have been ever ready to strike for the 
South. He had been forced to leave Ireland be- 
cause he had slain his landlord, who was attempt- 
ing to illegally evict him, and the curious epitaph 
on his tomb begins, "Here lies John Lewis, who 
slew the Irish Lord." 

He was followed by the McDowells, Alexanders, 
Prestons, Grahams, Eeids, McLaughlins, Moores, 
Wallaces, McCluers, Mathews, Woods, Campbells, 
Waddelis, Greenlees, Bowyers, Andersons, Breck- 
enridges, Paxtons, Houstons, Stuarts, Gambles, 
McCorkles, Wilsons, McISTutts, and many others, 
whose descendants have held the highest offices in 
the land which their fortitude created, and who 
have ever thrown on the side of principle the cour- 
age, resolution, and loyalty with which they held 
out for liberty and Protestantism in the land from 
which they came. 

It was a sturdy strain which had suddenly flung 



12 THE OLD SOUTH 

itself along the frontier, and its effect has been 
plainly discernible in the subsequent history of 
the Old South, running a somewhat sombre thread 
in the woof of its civilization, but giving it "a 
body " which perhaps it might otherwise not have 
possessed. A somewhat similar element, though 
springing from a different source, held the frontier 
in the other States. Its force was not towards the 
East, but towards the West ; not towards the sea 
and the old country, but towards the mountains 
and the new ; and to its energy was due the Western 
settlement, as to the other and the older class was 
due the Eastern. 

As the latter had created and opened up the first 
tier of States along the sea-coast, so these new- 
comers now crossed the mountains, penetrated " the 
dark and bloody ground," and conquered the second 
tier, hewing out of primeval forests — and holding 
them alike against Indians, French and British — ■ 
the States of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and 
opening up for the first time the possibility of a 
great American continent. 

They were not slave-holders to a great extent ; 
for they were frontiersmen, who mainly performed 
their own work ; they were not generally connected 
with the old families of the Piedmont and Tide- 
water, for they had in large part entered the State 
by her northern boundary, or had been brought to 
take up land under "cabin rights," or had come 
across the mountain barrier and had cut their own 



THE OLD SOUTH 13 

way into the forests, and they traced their lineage 
to Caledonian stock ; they were not bound to them 
by the ties of a common religion, for they repu- 
diated the Anglican Church, with its hierarchy and 
"malignant doctrines," as that Church had repudi- 
ated them, and they worshipped God, according to 
their own consciences, "in a way agreeable to the 
principles of their education." 

Thus, neither by interest, blood, nor religion, 
were they for a time connected with the original 
settlers of the Southern colonies ; and yet they were 
distinctly and irrevocably an integral part of the 
South and of the Southern civilization, — as the 
waters of the Missouri and the upper Mississippi 
are said to flow side by side for a hundred miles, 
each distinguishable, yet both together mingling to 
make the majestic Father of Waters. 

There was something potent in the Southern soil, 
which drew to it all who once rested on its bosom, 
without reference to race, or class, or station. Let 
men but once breathe the air of the South and gen- 
erally they were thenceforth Southerners forever. 
So, having crossed the mountains, this race made 
Kentucky and Tennessee Southern States, and, 
against the allurements of their own interest and 
the appeals of the North, held them so, and infused 
a strong Southern element into the State of Ohio. 

Steam had not been then invented, and the infi- 
nite forces of electricity were as yet unknown ; yet, 
without these two great civilizers, the Southern 



14 THE OLD SOUTH 

spirit bore the ensign of the Anglo-Saxon across 
the mountains, seized the West, and created this 
American continent. 

There is another work which the South may 
justly claim. As it pushed advance up first against 
the French confines and then beyond them, and 
made this country English, so it preserved the 
spirit of civil and religious liberty pure and unde- 
filed, and established it as the guiding star of the 
American people forever. 

I believe that the subordination of everything 
else to this principle is the key to the Southern 
character. 

The first charter of Virginia, the leading Southern 
colony, "secured" to her people "the privileges, 
franchises, and immunities of native-born English- 
men forever," and they never forgot it nor per- 
mitted others to overlook it. 

She had a Legislative Assembly as early as 1619, 
and the records show that it guarded with watchful 
vigilance against all encroachments those rights 
which, thanks to it, are to-day regarded as inalien- 
able among all English-speaking races. 

The Assembly was hardly established before it 
struck its first blow for constitutional liberty. 

"When the royal commissioners sent by James to 
investigate the "Seditious Parliament" came and 
demanded the records of the Assembly it refused 
to give them up ; and when the clerk, under a bribe, 
surrendered them, the Assembly stood him in the 



THE OLD SOUTH 15 

pillory and cut off one of his ears. This did not 
save their charter; but in the sequel it turned 
out that the forfeiture of the charter was a great 
blessing. 

As early as 1623-24 the General Assembly of the 
colony adopted resolutions defining and declaring 
the right of the colonists, and limiting the powers 
of the executive. 

The governor was not " to lay any taxes or impo- 
sitions upon the colony, their lands, or other way 
than by authority of the General Assembly, to be 
levied and employed as the General Assembly shall 
appoint." Moreover, the governor was not to with- 
draw the inhabitants from their labor for his ser- 
vice, and the Burgesses attending the General 
Assembly were to be privileged from arrest. 

The colony of Maryland went farthest yet in the 
way of liberty, and, under the direction of Lord 
Baltimore, passed the famous Act of Toleration on 
the 2d of April, 1649, which first established the 
principle of freedom of conscience on the earth. 

Thus early was the South striking for those great 
principles of liberty which are fundamental now 
mainly because of the spirit of our forefathers. It 
was not until some years after Virginia had declared 
herself that the issue was finally joined in England. 

From this time the light of liberty flamed like a 
beacon. The colonies declared themselves devotedly 
loyal to the crown, but were more true to their 
own rights ; and they frequently found themselves 



16 THE OLD SOUTH 

opposed to the government as vested in and mani- 
fested by the royal governor. 

During the time of the Commonwealth the South- 
ern colonies held by the crown, and became the 
asylum of many hard-pressed Cavaliers who found 
Cromwell's interest in them too urgent to permit 
them to remain at home. And Charles II. himself 
was offered a crown by his loyal subjects in Vir^ 
ginia when he was a fugitive with a price set on 
his head. 

So notorious was this fealty that the Great Pro- 
tector was obliged to send a war fleet to Virginia 
to quell this spirit and to make terms of peace. 
The treaty is made as between independent powers. 

The colonies were to obey the Commonwealth ; 
but this submission was to be acknowledged a vol- 
untary act, not forced nor constrained by a conquest 
upon the country. The people were " to enjoy such 
freedom and privileges as belong to free-born peo- 
ple in England." The continuance of their Repre- 
sentative Assembly was guaranteed. There was to 
be total indemnity. The colony was to have free 
trade, notwithstanding the Navigation Act. The 
General Assembly alone was to have the power to 
levy taxes ; and there were other provisions securing 
those privileges and immunities which were claimed 
as the birthright of the race. 

After Cromwell's death the General Assembly 
declared the supreme power to be "resident in" 
itself until such command or commission should 



THE OLD SOUTH 17 

come out of England as the General Assembly- 
adjudged lawful. And when the king once more 
came into his own the General Assembly accepted 
his governor willingly, as did the colony of Mary- 
land, but held firmly to the advantages it had 
secured during the interregnum. 

The colony welcomed the followers of Cromwell 
in the hour of their adversity, and offered them as 
secure an asylum as it had done a few years before 
to the hard-pressed Cavaliers. Thus society came to 
be knit of the strongest elements of all parties and 
classes, who merged all factions into loyalty for 
their collective rights. 

Then came the contest with Berkeley. Charles 
forgot the people who offered him a kingdom when 
he was an exile and a wanderer, and his representa- 
tive neglected their rights. 

England claimed the monopoly of the colonial 
trade, and imposed a heavy duty on their exports. 
Not content with this, the silly king gave away 
half of the settled portion of Virginia to two of his 
followers. The colony sent commissioners to pro- 
test, but before the trouble could be remedied 
Virginia, demanding self-government, flamed into 
revolution, with Nathaniel Bacon at its head. 

We are told that the great revolution of 1688 
established the liberties of the English people. 
The chief Southern colony of Great Britain had 
fought out its revolution twelve years before, and 
although the revolution failed disastrously for its 



18 THE OLD SOUTH 

participants, and it has come down in history as a 
rebellion, yet its ends were gained. 

The troops of the fiery Bacon were beaten and 
scattered, those who were captured were hanged as 
insurrectionists, and the gallant leader himself 
died of fever contracted in the trenches, a fugitive 
and an outlaw, with a stigma so welded to his 
name that after two centuries he is known but as 
"Bacon the Rebel." 

Judged by the narrow standard which makes suc- 
cess the sole test, Nathaniel Bacon was a rebel, and 
the uprising which he headed was a rebellion ; but 
there are " rebellions " which are not rebellions, but 
great revolutions, and there are "rebels " who, how- 
ever absolutely their immediate purposes may have 
failed, and however unjustly contemporary history 
may have recorded their actions, shall yet be 
known to posterity as patriots pure and lofty, 
whose motives and deeds shall evoke the admira- 
tion of all succeeding time. 

Such was Nathaniel Bacon. They called him 
rebel and outlawed him ; but he headed a revolu- 
tion for the protection of the same rights, the same 
" privileges, franchises, and immunities," whose 
infringement caused another revolution just one 
hundred years later, the leader of whose armies 
was the rebel George Washington, the founder of 
this University. 

The elder rebel failed of his purpose for the time, 
yet haply but for that stalwart blow struck at James- 



THE OLD SOUTH 19 

town for the rights of the colonists there had never 
been a Declaration of Independence, a Bunker Hill, 
a Yorktown, or the United States of America. 

The spirit never receded. The opening up of 
lands, the increase of slaves, the extension of 
commerce, made the Southern colonies wealthier 
generation after generation, and their population 
filled the territory up to the mountains and then 
flowed over, as we have seen, into the unknown 
regions beyond; and generation after generation, as 
they grew stronger, they grew more self-contained, 
more independent, more assertive of their rights, 
more repellant of any invasion, more jealous of 
tyranny, more loving of liberty. 

Against governors, councils, metropolitans, com- 
missaries, and clergy, in the Burgesses and in the 
vestries, they fought the fight with steadfast cour- 
age and persistency. 

The long contest between the vestries and the 
Church was only a different phase of this same 
spirit, and was in reality the same struggle be- 
tween the colony and the government at home, 
transferred to a different theatre. The planters 
were churchmen; but they claimed the right to 
control the Church, and repudiated the right of 
the Church to control them. It was the sacred 
right of self-government for which they contended ; 
and the first cry of " treason " was when the con- 
test culminated in that celebrated Parsons case, in 
which the orator of the Eevolution burst suddenly 
into fame. 



20 THE OLD SOUTH. 

"The gentleman has spoken treason/' declared 
the counsel for the plaintiff ; but it was the treason 
that was in all hearts, and was the first step of the 
young advocate in his ascent to a fame for oratory 
so transcending that the mind of a later and more 
prosaic generation fails to grasp its wondrous- 
ness, and there is nothing by which to measure it 
since the day when the Athenian orator thundered 
against the Macedonian tyrant. 

The same principles which inspired the uprising 
of Bacon a century before, and had animated the 
continuous struggle since, swept the colonies into 
revolution now. 

The Stamp Act of 1766 set the colonies into 
flame, and from this time to the outbreak of flagrant 
war, a decade later, the people stood with steadfast 
faces set against all encroachment ; and when the 
time came for war the South sprang to arms. She 
did not enter upon the enterprise from ignorance 
of her danger, nor yet in recklessness. 

The Southern planter sent his son to England to 
be educated, and many of the men who sat in the 
great conventions, or who subscribed the Declara- 
tion of Independence, had been themselves educated 
in England, and knew full well the magnitude of 
the hazard they were assuming in instituting with 
a handful of straggling colonies a revolution against 
a power which made Chatham the ruler of Europe, 
and which only a generation later tore the victori- 
ous eagles of Napoleon himself. 



THE OLD SOUTH 21 

Thomas Nelson, Jr., the wealthiest man in the 
Colony of Virginia, had sat by Charles James Fox 
at Eton and knew England and her power. Others 
did also. 

They knew all this full well ; and yet for the 
sake of those principles, of those rights and liber- 
ties, which they believed were theirs of right, and 
which they meant to transmit undiminished to 
their children, they gave up wealth and ease and 
security, blazoned on their standard the motto 
« Virginia for Constitutional Liberty," and launched 
undaunted on the sea of revolution. 

There is an incident connected with the signing 
of the Declaration of Independence which illustrates 
at once the character of the Southern planter and 
the point I am endeavoring to make. 

You may have observed, in looking over the 
signers of the Declaration of Independence, that 
Charles Carroll of Maryland subscribed himself 
" Charles Carroll of Carrollton." Unless you know 
the story it would appear that simple arrogance 
prompted such a subscription. The facts, how- 
ever, were these : It was a serious occasion, and a 
solemn act this group of men were performing, 
assembled to affix their names to this document, 
which was to be forever a barrier between them 
and Great Britain ; it had not been so very long 
since the headsman's axe had fallen for a less overt 
treason than they were then publicly declaring, and 
if they failed they were likely to feel its weight or 
else to meet a yet more disgraceful death. 



22 THE OLD SOUTH 

Benjamin Franklin had just replied to the remark, 
" We must all hang together," with his famous 
pleasantry, " Yes, or we shall all hang separately," 
when Carroll, perhaps the wealthiest man in Mary- 
land, took the pen. As he signed his name, " Charles 
Carroll," and rose from his seat, some one said, 
" Carroll, you will get off easily ; there are so many 
Charles Carrolls they will never know which one it 
is." Carroll walked back to the table, and, seizing 
the pen again, stooped and wrote under his name 
" of Carrollton." 

They affixed their names to the Declaration, com- 
prehending the peril they were braving, as well as 
they did the propositions which they were enunci- 
ating to the world, and they intended to shoulder 
all the responsibility of their act. 

The South emerged from the Revolution mangled 
and torn, but free, and with the Anglo-Saxon spirit 
whetted by success and intensified. She emerged 
also with her character already established, and 
with those qualities permanently fixed which sub- 
sequently came to be known through their results 
as the Southern civilization. 

Succeeding the Revolution came a period not 
very distinctly marked in the common idea of im- 
portant steps, but full of hazard and equally replete 
with pregnant results — a period in which the loose 
and impotent Confederation became through the 
patriotism of the South this Union. 

At last, the Constitution was somewhat of a com- 



THE OLD SOUTH 23 

promise, and the powers not expressly delegated to 
Congress were reserved to eacli State in her sover- 
eign capacity, and it was upon this basis simply 
that the Union was established. 

It may throw light on the part that the South 
took in this to recall the fact that when the point 
was made that Virginia should relinquish her North- 
western territory, Virginia ceded to the country, 
without reservation, the territory stretching north 
to the Great Lakes and west to the Father of Waters. 
She granted it without consideration, and without 
grudging, as she had always given generously 
whenever she was called upon, and when she had 
stripped herself of her fairest domain, in retribu- 
tion a third of the small part which she had re- 
tained was torn from her, without giving her even 
a voice to protest against it. There is no act of 
the Civil War, or of its offspring, the days of recon- 
struction, so arbitrary, so tyrannical, and so un- 
justifiable. 

When the South emerged from the Revolutionary 
War, her character was definitely recognized as 
manifesting the qualities which combined to give 
her civilization the peculiar and strongly marked 
traits that have made it since distinctive among 
the English-speaking races. And in the succeeding 
years these traits became more and more prom- 
inent. 

The guiding principle of the South had steadily 
been what may be termed public spirit ; devotion 



24 THE OLD SOUTH 

to the rights and liberties of the citizen, the embodi- 
ment of which in a form of government was aptly 
termed the Commonwealth. 

To this yielded even the aristocratic sentiment. 
The Southerner was attached to the British mode 
of inheritance, yet he did away with the law of 
primogeniture ; he was devoted to the traditions 
of his Church, yet he declared for religious free- 
dom, and not only disestablished the Church, but 
confiscated and made common the Church lands, 
and it is due to the South, to-day, that man is free 
to worship God according to his conscience where- 
ever the true God is known and feared. 

The South changed far less after its separation 
from Great Britain than did the North. Indeed, 
the change was during the entire ante-bellum period 
comparatively small when viewed beside the change 
in the other portion of the country. 

It has been said that it was provincial. It cer- 
tainly did not so consider itself, for it held a self- 
esteem and self-content as unquestioning and sub- 
lime as that which pervaded Bome ; a,nd wherever 
the provinces were, they were to the Southerner 
assuredly beyond the confines of the Southern 
States. Yet the naked fact is, that, assuming pro- 
vincialism to be what it has been aptly defined to 
be, " localism, or being on one side and apart from 
the general movement of contemporary life," the 
South was provincial. 

African slavery, which had proven ill-adapted to 



THE OLD SOUTH 25 

the needs and conditions of the North, and conse- 
quently had disappeared more because of this fact 
than because of the efforts of the Abolitionists, 
had proved perfectly suited to the needs of the 
South. 

The negro flourished under the warm skies of the 
South, and the granaries and tobacco fields of Mary- 
land and Virginia, the cotton fields of the Carolinas, 
Georgia, and Alabama, and the sugar plantations of 
the Mississippi States, bore ample testimony to his 
utility as a laborer. But the world was moving 
with quicker strides than the Southern planter 
knew, and slavery was banishing from his land all 
the elements of that life which was keeping stride 
with progress without. Thus, before the South- 
erner knew it, the temper of the time had changed, 
slavery was become a horror, and he himself was 
left behind and was in the opposition. 

Changes came, but they did not affect the South 
— it remained as before or changed in less ratio; 
progress was made ; the rest of the world fell into 
the universal movement ; but the South advanced 
more slowly. It held by its old tenets when they 
were no longer tenable, by its ancient customs when, 
perhaps, they were no longer defensible. All inter- 
ference from the outside was repelled as officious 
and inimical, and all intervention was instantly met 
with hostility and indignation. It believed itself 
the home of liberality when it was, in fact, neces- 
sarily intolerant; — of enlightenment, of progress, 



26 THE OLD SOUTH 

when it had been so far distanced that it knew not 
that the world had passed by. 

The cause of this was African slavery, with 
which the South is taunted as if she alone had 
instituted it. For this she suffered; for this, at 
last, she was forced to fight and pour out her blood 
like water. 

Slavery had forced the South into a position 
where she must fight or surrender her rights. 

The fight on the part of the North was for the 
power to adapt the Constitution to its new doctrine, 
and yet to maintain the Union ; on the part of 
the South, it was for the preservation of guaran- 
teed constitutional rights. 

Through the force of circumstances and under 
" an inexorable political necessity," the South 
found itself compelled to assume finally the defence 
of the system ; but it was not responsible either 
for its origin or its continuance, and the very men 
who fought to prevent external interference with 
it had spent their lives endeavoring to solve the 
problem of its proper abolition. 

The African slave trade, dating from about the 
year 1442 (although it did not flourish for a cen- 
tury or more), when it was begun by Anthony 
Gonzales, a Portuguese, was continued until the 
present century was well installed. 

It was chartered and encouraged by Queen Eliza- 
beth, and by her royal successors, against the pro- 
test of the Southern colonies, down to the time of 



THE OLD SOUTH 27 

the American Eevolution. The first nation on the 
civilized globe to protest against it as monstrous 
was the Southern colony, Virginia. Twenty-three 
times her people protested to the crown in public 
acts of her Assembly. 

One of the most scathing charges, brought by 
the writer of the Declaration of Independence 
against the crown, was that in which he arraigns 
the king of England for having " waged cruel war 
against human nature itself, violating its most 
sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a 
distant people who never offended him, captivating 
and carrying them into slavery in another hemi- 
sphere, or incurring a miserable death in their trans- 
portation thither. 

" This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel 
powers, is the warfare of the Christian king of 
Great Britain. 

"Determined to keep open a market where men 
should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his 
negative for suppressing any legislative attempt 
to prohibit and restrain the execrable commerce," 
etc. 

This clause was the product of Thomas Jeffer- 
son, a Southerner, and although it was stricken out 
in compliance with the wishes of two of the South- 
ern colonies, yet substantially the same charge 
was made in the Constitution of Virginia, where in 
its preamble is set forth " the detestable and insup- 
portable tyranny of the king of Great Britain, that 



28 THE OLD SOUTH 

he had prompted to rise in rebellion those very 
negroes whom by any inhuman use of his royal 
negative he had refused us permission to exclude 
by law." 

If the South had at any previous time inclined to 
profit by the slave trade, it was only in common 
with the rest of Christendom — particularly with 
New England — when the most zealous and relig- 
ious were participants in it ; when the Duke of 
York, the future sovereign himself, was the head 
of the company chartered under the Great Seal of 
England, and when the queen-mother, the queen- 
consort, Prince Eupert, the Earl of Shaftesbury, and 
the leading men of the times were incorporators. 

Even the godly John Newton was interested in 
the traffic. 

In the South, however, long before Jefferson 
framed his famous arraignment of the king of 
Great Britain, protest on protest had been made 
against the iniquity, and all the ingenuity of those 
men who produced the Declaration of Independence 
and the Constitution of the United States had been 
exercised to bring it to an end. 

The House of Burgesses often attempted to lay a 
duty of from £10 to £20 a head on the negro 
slaves, and against the veto of the crown they 
continued to levy duties, until the oppression by 
the crown culminated, and "The gentlemen of the 
House of Burgesses and the body of merchants 
assembled in the old capital of Virginia on the 2d 



THE OLD SOUTH 29 

June, 1770, resolved, among other things, that we 
will not import or bring into the colony, or cause to 
be imported or brought into the colony, either by 
sea or land, any slaves, or make sale of any upon 
commission, or purchase any slave or slaves that 
may be imported by others, after the 1st day of 
November next, unless the same have been twelve 
months on the continent." 

On the 1st of April, 1772, the House of Burgesses 
addressed a hot petition to the crown, " imploring 
his Majesty's paternal assistance in averting a ca- 
lamity of a most alarming nature." It proceeds : 
" The importation of slaves into the colonies from 
the coast of Africa hath long been considered as a 
trade of great inhumanity, and under its present 
encouragement we have too much reason to fear 
will endanger the very existence of your Majesty's 
American dominions. We are sensible that some 
of your Majesty's subjects of Great Britain may 
reap emoluments from this sort of traffic, but when 
we consider that it greatly retards the settlement 
of the colonies with more useful inhabitants, and 
may in time have the most destructive influence, 
we presume to hope that the interest of a few will 
be disregarded when placed in competition with the 
security and happiness of such numbers of your 
Majesty's dutiful and loyal servants. Deeply im- 
pressed with these sentiments, we most humbly be- 
seech your Majesty to remove all those restraints 
on your Majesty's governors of the colony which 



30 THE OLD SOUTH 

inhibit their assenting to such laws as might check 
so very pernicious a commerce." 

It was not until the following year that the Phil- 
adelphia petition to the Pennsylvania Assembly 
was gotten up, and it accords the credit to the 
Southern colony by asking similar action with that 
of "the province of Virginia, whose House of Bur- 
gesses have lately petitioned the king." 

On the 5th of October, 1778, Virginia passed an 
act forbidding the further importation of slaves, by 
land or water, under a penalty of £1000 from the 
seller and £500 from the buyer, and freedom to 
the slave: thus giving to the world the first ex- 
ample of an attempt by legislative enactment to 
destroy the slave trade. 

When the vote was taken in the Federal Congress 
on the resolution to postpone the prohibition of the 
trade to the year 1808, Virginia used all her influ- 
ence to defeat the postponement, and it was carried 
by New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connec- 
ticut voting with Maryland, the Carolinas, and 
Georgia. John Adams, writing of a speech of 
James Otis in 1761, says : " Nor were the poor 
negroes forgotten. Not a Quaker in Philadelphia, 
nor Mr. Jefferson of Virginia, ever asserted the 
rights of negroes in stronger terms. Young as I 
was and ignorant as I was, I shuddered at the doc- 
trine he taught." 

The final prohibition of the slave trade by act of 
Congress was brought about through the influence 



THE OLD SOUTH 31 

of President Jefferson and by the active efforts of 
Virginians. And greatly to the labors of the repre- 
sentatives from Virginia was due the final extinc- 
tion of the vile traffic through the act of Congress 
declaring it to be piracy, five years before Great 
Britain took similar action with regard to her 
subjects. 

Such is the actual record of the much-vilified 
South relating to the African slave trade, taken 
from official records. 

Now as to slavery itself. We have seen how it 
was brought upon the South without its fault, and 
continued to be forced upon her against her pro- 
tests. Let us for a moment investigate the facts 
connected with its continuance. 

The gradual system of emancipation adopted at 
the North had undoubtedly led to many of the slaves 
being shipped off to the South and sold. When, 
therefore, after this "abolition," the movement, 
from being confined to the comparatively small 
band of liberators who were actuated by pure prin- 
ciple, extended to those who had been their perse- 
cutors, it aroused a suspicion at the South which 
blinded it to a just judgment of the case. 

If the South maintained slavery unjustifiably, 
during its continuance, instead of its unnecessary 
horrors being, as is popularly believed, augmented 
by the natural brutality of the Southerner, the real 
facts are that the system was at the South perhaps 
fraught with less atrocity than it was whilst it con- 
tinued at the North. 



32 THE OLD SOUTH 

Sh. the earliest period of trie institution it was 
justified on the ground of the slaves being heathen, 
and a doubt was raised whether baptism would not 
operate to emancipate. At the South it was adju- 
dicated that it did not so operate ; but long prior 
to this act! negroes were admitted to the Church. 
In the leading colony at the North baptism was at 
the time expressly prohibited. The necessary con- 
comitants of slavery were wretched enough, and 
the continuance of the system proved the curse of 
the fair land where it flourished, but to the Afri- 
can himself it was a blessing ; it gave his race the 
only civilization it has had since the dawn of 
history. 

The statutory laws relating to slavery at the 
South are held up as proof of the brutality with 
which they were treated even under the law. But 
these laws were not more cruel than were the laws 
of England at the period when they were enacted ; 
they were rarely put into practical execution ; and, 
at least, Southerners never tolerated wholesale 
burning at the stake as a legal punishment, as was 
done in New York as late as 1741, when fourteen 
negroes were burnt at the stake on the flimsy testi- 
mony of a half -crazy servant girl ; and as was done 
in Massachusetts as late as 1755, when a negro was 
burnt for murder. 

In the cotton and sugar States, where the negroes 
were congregated in large numbers, and where a 
certain degree of absenteeism prevailed, there was 
naturally and necessarily more hardship. 



THE OLD SOUTH 33 

African slavery was tolerated in Virginia and 
the Carolinas, but it received its first express legis- 
lative sanction from the Commonwealth of Massa- 
chusetts. 

This Commonwealth, which has done so much 
to advance civilization, must bear the distinction 
of being the first American colony to proclaim 
slavery; to endorse the slave trade by legal sanc- 
tion, and to build and equip the first slave-ship 
which sailed from an American port. Even the 
Mayflower, whose timbers one might have supposed 
would be regarded as sanctified by the holy fathers 
whose feet first touched Plymouth Bock, was, ac- 
cording to tradition, turned to a more secular use, 
and is reported by general tradition to have been 
subsequently employed as an African slaver. 
Whether this be true or not, the first American 
slaver was the Salem ship The Desire, which was 
built and equipped at Marblehead in 1636, and 
was the prototype of a long line of slavers, in 
which, through many decades, continuing long after 
slavery was abolished in New England, and after 
the Southern States were piling protest on protest 
and act on act to inhibit the slave trade, New 
England shippers, in violation of law, plied their 
hellish traffic between the African coast and the 
slave-holding countries. 

Whatever may have been the horrors of African 
slavery in the South, it was in its worst form and 
under its most inhuman surroundings a mild and 



34 THE OLD SOUTH 

beneficent system, benevolent in its features and 
philanthropic in its characteristics, when compared 
with the slave trade itself. The horrors of "the 
middle passage," when human beings, often to the 
number of eight or nine hundred, were "piled 
almost in bulk on water-casks," or were packed 
between the hatches in a space where there was 
"not room for a man to sit unless inclining his 
head forward, their food half a pint of rice per day, 
with one pint of water," with "a blazing sun above, 
the boiling sea beneath, a withering air around," 
had never been equalled before, and in the provi- 
dence of God will never be again. 

It is not necessary to defend slavery, to defend 
the race which found it thrust upon it, contrary to 
what it deemed its rights, and which, after long and 
futile effort to rid itself of it, in accordance with 
what it held to be consistent at once with its rights 
and its security, refused to permit any outside 
interference. This was not primarily because it 
was wedded to slavery, but because it tolerated no 
invasion of its rights under any form or upon any 
pretext. 

Vermont was the first State to lead off with eman- 
cipation in 1777. By the census of 1790 but 
seventeen slaves remained in the State. New 
Hampshire and Massachusetts failed to fix a statu- 
tory period; but the census of 1790 gives the 
former State 158 slaves, "and one of these was still 
reported in 1840." 



THE OLD SOUTH 35 

Rhode Island and Connecticut about the same 
time adopted a gradual plan of emancipation. The 
latter State held 2759 slaves in 1790 — too many 
to admit of immediate emancipation. 

Pennsylvania had by the same census 3737 slaves, 
and, recognizing the peril of injecting such a num- 
ber of freedmen into the body politic, provided in 
1780, by an act said to have been drafted by Benja- 
min Franklin, that all slaves born after that time 
should be free when they attained the age of 
twenty-eight years. The census of 1840 showed 
sixty-four still held in slavery. 

In New York, by an act passed in 1799, the future 
issue of slaves were set free — males at the age of 
twenty-eight and females at the age of twenty-five 
years. In 1790 there were 21,324 slaves in the 
State. In 1800, before the act of emancipation 
could take effect, this number had fallen off 981. 

New Jersey in 1790 held 11,433 slaves. In 1804 
her act of gradual emancipation was adopted. She 
had 674 slaves in 1840 and 236 in 1850. 

This movement was largely owing in its incep- 
tion to the efforts of the Quakers, who have devoted 
to peace those energies which others have given to 
war, and who have ever been moved by the spirit 
to take the initiative in all action which tends to 
the amelioration of the condition of the human 
race. 

While this spirit of emancipation was passing 
over the North, the South, to whose action in as« 



36 r A HE OLD SOUTH 

serting general freedom and universal civil equality 
was due the impulse, was stirring in the same di- 
rection. With her, however, the problem was far 
more difficult of solution, and although she ad- 
dressed herself to it with energy and sincerity, she 
proved finally unequal to the task, and it was re= 
served, in the providence of an all- wise God, fo.r the 
bitter scalpel of war to remove that which had 
served its purpose and was slowly sapping the life- 
blood of the South. 

In the New England and Northern States, there 
were, by the census of 1790, less than 42,000 slaves : 
in Virginia alone, by the same census, there were 
293,427 slayes — about seven times the number 
contained in all the others put together. 

How were they to be freed with advantage to the 
slaves and security to the State ? 

John Eandolph of Roanoke described the situa- 
tion aptly when he said we were holding a wolf by 
the ears, and it was equally dangerous to let go 
and to hold on. 

The problem was stupendous. But it was not 
despaired of. Many masters manumitted their 
slaves, the example being set by numbers of the 
same benevolent sect to which reference has been 
made. By the census of 1781 there were in Vir- 
ginia 12,866 free negroes. Schemes of general 
emancipation of the slaves in Virginia had been 
proposed to the legislature by Jefferson in 1776; 
by William Craighead, and by Dr. William Thorn- 



THE OLD SOUTH 37 

ton in 1785, whilst other schemes were proposed by 
St. George Tucker in 1796, by Thomas Jefferson 
Eandolph in 1832, and by others from time to time. 
The vast body of slaves in the country, however, 
rendered it a matter so perilous as to prevent the 
schemes from ever being effectuated. 

The most feasible plan appeared to be one that 
should lead to the colonization of the race in Africa ; 
and the American Colonization Society was organ- 
ized in Washington on the 1st of January, 1817, 
with Bushrod Washington president, and William 
H. Crawford, Henry Clay, John Taylor, and Gen- 
eral John Mason, John Eager Howard, Samuel F. 
Smith, and John C. Herbert of Maryland, and An- 
drew Jackson of Tennessee among its vice-presi- 
dents. 

Auxiliary societies were organized all over Vir- 
ginia, John Marshall being the president of that 
established in Richmond, and ex-governors Pleas- 
ants and Tyler being vice-presidents. James Madi- 
son, James Monroe, and John Tyler all threw the 
weight of their great influence to carry out the 
purposes of the society and make it successful. 
Strange to say, every act on the part of the South 
leading towards liberation was viewed with suspi- 
cion by the Abolitionists of the North, and every 
step in that direction was opposed by them. Later 
a new and independent State organization was 
formed, called the Colonization Society of Virginia. 
Its president was John Marshall ; its vice-presi- 



38 THE OLD SOUTH 

dents, James Madison, James Monroe, James Pleas- 
ants, John Tyler, Hugh Nelson, and others ; and 
its roll of membership embraced the most influen- 
tial men in the State. 

Everything was looking towards the gradual but 
final extinction of African slavery. It was pre- 
vented by the attitude of the Northern Abolition- 
ists. Their furious onslaughts, accompanied by the 
illegal circulation of literature calculated to excite 
the negroes to revolt, and by the incursions of 
emissaries whose avowed object was the liberation 
of the slaves, but the effect of whose action was the 
instigation of the race to rise and fling off the yoke 
by rebellion and murder, chilled this feeling, the 
balance of political power came into question, and 
the temper of the South changed. 

From this movement dates the unremittingly 
hostile attitude of the two sections towards each 
other. Before there had been antagonism; now 
there was open hostility. Before there had been 
conflicting righte, but they had been compromised 
and adjusted ; from this time there was no compro- 
mise. The Northerner was a " miserable Yankee " 
and the Southerner was a " brutal slave-holder." 

The two sections grew to be as absolutely sep- 
arated as though a sea rolled between them. The 
antagonism increased steadily and became intensi- 
fied. It extended far beyond the original cause, and 
finally became a factor in every problem, social and 
political, which existed in the whole land, affecting 



THE OLD SOUTH 39 

its results and often controlling its solution ; forc- 
ing the two sections wider and wider apart, and 
eventually dividing them by an impassable gulf. 
Slavery, the prime cause, sank into insignificance 
in the multitudinous and potent differences which 
reared themselves between the two sections. It 
was employed simply as the battle-cry of the two 
opponents who stood arrayed against each other 
on a much broader question. The real fight was 
whether the conservative South should, with its 
doctrine of States rights, of original State sov- 
ereignty, rule the country according to a literal 
reading of the Constitution, or whether the North 
should govern according to a more liberal construc- 
tion, adapted, as it claimed, by necessity to the 
new and more advanced conditions of the nation. 
Finally it culminated. After convulsions which 
would have long before destroyed a less stable 
nation, the explosion came. 

The South, outraged at continual violation of 
the Constitution, declared that it would no longer 
act in unison with the North, and, after grave delib- 
eration and hesitation, rendered proper by the mag- 
nitude of the step contemplated, the far Southern 
States exercised their sovereign right and dissolved 
their connection with the Union. Then came the 
President's call for troops, and finding themselves 
forced to secede or to make war upon their sister 
States, the border States withdrew. 

The North made war upon the South, and, backed 



40 THE OLD SOUTH 

by the resources and the sentiment of the world, 
after four years compelled her to recede from her 
action. 

Such in outline is the history of the South as it 
relates to slavery. 

What has taken place since belongs partly to the 
New South and partly to the Old South. 

The Old South made this people. One hundred 
years ago this nation, like Athene, sprang full 
panoplied from her brain. 

It was the South that planned first the co-opera- 
tion of the colonies, then their consolidation, and 
finally their establishment as free and independent 
States. 

It was a Southerner, Henry, who first struck the 
note of independence. It was a Southerner, Nelson, 
who first moved, and the Convention of Virginia, a 
Southern colony, which first adopted the resolution 
" that the delegates appointed to represent this 
colony in General Congress be instructed to pro- 
pose to that respectable body to declare the United 
Colonies free and independent States, absolved 
from all allegiance to or dependence on the crown 
or Parliament of Great Britain." 

It was a Southern colony which first emblazoned 
on her standard the emblem of her principle, Vir- 
ginia for Constitutional Liberty. 

It was a Southerner who wrote the Declaration 
of Independence. 

These acts created revolution, and a Southerner 



THE OLD SOFTH 41 

led the armies of the revolutionists to victory ; and 
when victory had been won it was to Southern 
intellect and Southern patriotism which created 
the Federal Constitution, that was due the final 
consolidation of the separated and disjointed ele- 
ments extended along the Atlantic coast into one 
grand union of republics known as the United States. 

From this time the South was as prominent in 
the affairs of the nation as she had been when she 
stood, a rock of defence, between the encroach- 
ments of the crown and the liberties of the colonies. 

Of the Presidents who had governed the United 
States up to the time of the Civil War, the Old 
South had contributed Washington, Jefferson, Mad- 
ison, Monroe, Jackson, Harrison, Tyler, Polk, and 
Taylor, and the cabinets had been filled with the 
representatives of the same civilization. In the 
only two wars which had ruffled the peaceful sur- 
face of the nation's course during this period the 
leading generals had been Southerners, and of the 
Chief Justices, John Marshall and Roger B. Taney 
had presided successively over the supreme bench of 
the United States from 1801, bringing to bear upon 
the decisions of that tribunal the force of their 
great minds, and the philosophic thought which is 
characteristic of the civilization of which they 
were such distinguished exponents. 

Next to George Washington John Marshall 
probably did more than any other one man to estab- 
lish the principles on which this government is 



42 THE OLD SOUTH 

founded; for by his decisions he settled the mutual 
rights of the States on a firm and equitable basis, 
and determined forever those questions which might 
have strained the bonds of the young government. 

To the South is due the fact that Louisiana is 
not now a French republic, and that the Mississippi 
rolls its whole length through the free land of the 
United States ; to the South that the vast empire 
of Texas is not a hostile government ; to the South 
is due the establishment of this Union in. its integ- 
rity, and of the doctrines upon which it is main- 
tained. 

Thus in the council chamber and the camp, in 
the forum or on the field of battle, opposing invad- 
ing armies or fighting for those principles which 
are ingrained in the very web and woof of our 
national life, the representatives of that contemned 
civilization always took the lead. In the great 
Civil War the two greatest men who stood for the 
Union, and to whom its preservation was due, were 
in large part the product of this civilization. Both 
Grant and Lincoln — the great general and the still 
greater President — sprang from Southern loins. 

Can the New South make a better showing than 
this, or trace its lineage to a stronger source ? 

But as grand as is this exhibition of her genius, 
this is not her best history. The record of battles 
and of splendid deeds may serve to arrest admira- 
tion and to mark the course of events, as the con- 
stellations in the arch above us appear to the 



THE OLD SOUTH 43 

beholder nobler than the infinite multitude of the 
stars that fill the boundless reaches between ; but 
the true record of the life of that civilization is 
deeper and worthier than this. 

As the azure fields that stretch away through 
space are filled with stars which refuse their individ- 
ual rays to the naked eye, yet are ever sending 
light through all the boundless realms of space, so 
under this brilliant exhibition of the South' s pub- 
lic career lies the record of a life, of a civilization 
so pure, so noble, that the world to-day holds noth- 
ing equal to it. 

After less than a generation it has become among 
friends and enemies the recognized field of romance. 

Its chief attribute was conservatism. Others 
were courage, fidelity, purity, hospitality, magna- 
nimity, honesty, and truth. 

Whilst it proudly boasted itself democratic, it 
was distinctly and avowedly anti-radical — holding 
fast to those things which were proved, and stand- 
ing with its conservatism a steadfast bulwark 
against all novelties and aggressions. 

No dangerous isms flourished in that placid 
atmosphere ; against that civilization innovations 
beat vainly as the waves lash themselves to spray 
against the steadfast shore. 

Slavery itself, which proved the spring of woes 
unnumbered, and which clogged the wheels of prog- 
ress and withdrew the South from sympathy with 
the outer world, christianized a race and was the 



44 THE OLD SOUTH 

automatic balance-wheel between labor and capital 
which prevented, on the one hand, the excessive 
accumulation of wealth, with its attendant perils, 
and on the other hand prevented the antithesis of 
the immense pauper class which work for less than 
the wage of the slave without any of his inci- 
dental compensations. 

In the sea-island cotton and rice districts, and the 
sugar sections, it is true that there was a class which 
accumulated wealth and lived in a splendor un- 
known to the people of Virginia and of the interior 
portions of the cotton and sugar States; but the 
proportion of these to the entire population of the 
South who in the aggregate made up the Southern 
civilization is so small that it need scarcely be 
taken into account. 

That the Southerner was courageous the whole 
world admits. His friends claim it ; his foes know 
it. Probably never has such an army existed as 
that which followed Lee and Jackson from the 
time when, march-stained and battle-scarred, it 
flung itself across the swamps of the Chickahom- 
iny and stood a wall of fire between McClellan and 
the hard-pressed capital of the Confederate South. 

It was not discipline, it was not esprit de corps, 
it was not traditional renown, it was not mere gen- 
eralship which carried that army through. It was 
personal, individual courage and devotion to prin- 
ciple which welded it together and made it invin- 
cible, until it was almost extirpated. 



THE OLD SOUTH 45 

The mills of battle and of grim starvation ground 
it into dust; yet even then there remained a valor 
which might well have inspired that famous legend 
which was one of the traditions of the conflict 
between the Church and its assailants in earlier 
ages, that after the destruction of their bodies 
their fierce and indomitable spirits continued the 
desperate struggle in the realms of air. 

The tendency to hospitality was not local nor nar- 
row ; it was the characteristic of the entire people, 
and its concomitant was a generosity so general and 
so common in its application that it created the 
quality of magnanimity as a race characteristic. 

It was these qualities to which the South was 
indebted for her controlling influence in the gov- 
ernment of the country, throughout that long period 
which terminated only when the North abrogated 
the solemn compact which bound the two sections 
together. 

'No section of this country more absolutely, 
loyally, and heartily accepts the fact that slavery 
and secession can never again become practical 
questions in this land, than does that which a gen- 
eration ago flung all its weight into the opposite 
scale. But to pretend that we did not have the 
legal, constitutional right to secede from the Union 
is to stultify ourselves in falsification of history. 

If any portion of this nation doubt the South's 
devotion to the Union, let it attempt to impair the 
Union. If the South is ever to be once more the 



46 THE OLD SOUTH 

leader of this nation, she must cherish the traditional 
glory of her former station, and prove to the world 
that her revolution was not a rebellion, but was 
fought for a principle upon which she was estab- 
lished as her foundation-stone — the sacred right of 
self-government. 

Government was the passion of the Southerner. 
Trained from his earliest youth by the care and 
mastery of slaves, and the charge of affairs which 
demanded the qualities of mastership, the control 
of men became habitual with him, and domination 
became an instinct. Consequently, the only fields 
which he regarded as desirable were those which 
afforded him the opportunity for its exercise. 

Thus every young Southerner of good social con- 
nection who was too poor to live without work, or 
too ambitious to be contented with his plantation, 
devoted himself to the learned professions — the 
law being the most desirable as offering the best 
opportunity for forensic display, and being the 
surest stepping-stone to political preferment. 

Being emotional and impulsive, the Southerner 
was as susceptible to the influences of rhetoric as 
was the Athenian, and public speaking was culti- 
vated as always a necessary qualification for public 
position. 

The South on this account became celebrated for 
its eloquence, which, if somewhat fervid when 
judged by the severe standard of later criticism, 
was, when measured by its immediate effects, ex- 



THE OLD SOUTH 47 

traordinarily successful. It contributed to preserve 
through the decades preceding the war the suprem- 
acy of the slave-holding South, even against the 
rapidly growing aggressiveness of the North, with 
the sentiment of the modern world at its back. 

It is not necessary to make reference to those 
orators who in the public halls of the nation, and in 
their native States, whenever questions of moment 
were agitated, evoked thunders of applause alike 
from rapturous friends and dazzled enemies. Their 
fame is now a part of the history of the country. 

But in every circuit throughout the length and 
breadth of the South are handed down, even now, 
traditions of speakers who, by the impassioned elo- 
quence of their appeals, carried juries against both 
law and evidence, or on the hustings, in political 
combat, swept away immense majorities by the irre- 
sistible impetuosity of their oratory. 

That the Old South was honest, no sensible man 
who reads the history of that time can doubt, and 
no honest man will deny. Its whole course through- 
out its existence, whatever other criticism it may 
be subjected to, was one of honesty and of honor. 
Even under the perils of public life, which try 
men's souls, the personal integrity which was a 
fruit of the civilization in which it flourished was 
never doubted. 

In confirmation of this proposition, appeal can be 
made with confidence to the history of the public 
men of the South. They were generally poor men, 



48 THE OLD SOUTH 

frequently reckless men, not infrequently insolvent 
men; but their bitterest enemies never aspersed 
their honesty. 

There was not one of them who could not say, 
with Laurens of South Carolina, "I am a poor man 
— God knows I am a poor man ; but your king is 
not rich enough to buy me ! " 

In this they were the representatives of their 
people. The faintest suspicion of delinquency in 
this respect would have blasted the chances of any 
man at the South, however powerful or however 
able he might have been, and have consigned him 
to everlasting infamy. Whatever assaults may be 
made on that civilization, its final defence is this : 
The men were honorable and the women pure. So 
highly were these qualities esteemed, that the. as- 
persion of either was deemed sufficient cause to 
take life. 

If it has appeared to modern civilization that 
life has not been held sufficiently sacred at the 
South, this may be urged in her defence: that a 
comparative statement, based on the statistics, does 
not show that homicide is, or has ever been, more 
general at the South than at the North, when all 
classes are embraced in the statement; and if it 
has been tolerated among the upper classes under 
a form which has now happily passed away, it was 
in obedience to a sentiment which although grossly 
abused, had this much justification — that it placed 
honor above even life. 



THE OLD SOUTH 49 

The principal element of weakness in the civili- 
zation of the Old South was that it was not pro- 
ductive in material wealth. The natural agricul- 
tural resources of the country were so great and so 
suited to the genius of the people that there were 
no manufactures to speak of. 

The tendency of the civilization was the reduc- 
tion of everything to principles, and not to disturb 
them by experiment. In this way there was an 
enormous waste. The physical resources of the 
country and the intellectual resources of its people 
were equally subject to this fault. 

Whilst oratory flourished to a greater extent 
than under any other civilization which has ex- 
isted since the invention of the printing-press, 
there was no Southern literature. Rather, there 
were no publishers and no public. There were 
critics who might have shone on the Edinburgh 
Review, and writers who might have made an 
Augustan literature; but the atmosphere was 
against them. 

A Virginian farmer sat down and wrote the great 
Bill of Rights, the finest State paper ever penned 
on this continent ; a Virginian was called on to draft 
a paper in the absence of another who was to have 
drawn it, and he wrote the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. Another, a naval officer, laid down the 
laws of the winds and tides, and charted the path- 
less deep into highways, so that men come and go as 
securely as on dry land. There was genius enough, 



50 THE OLD SOUTH 

but the spirit of the time was against it. In the 
main the authors wrote for their diversion, and the 
effort was not repeated. The environments were 
not conducive to literary production, and it was not 
called into being. The harpers were present at the 
feast, but no one called for the song. 

It was to this that the South owed her final 
defeat. It was for lack of a literature that she 
was left behind in the great race for outside sup- 
port, and that in the supreme moment of her ex- 
istence she found herself arraigned at the bar of 
the world without an advocate and without a de- 
fence. 

Only study the course of the contest against the 
South and you cannot fail to see how she was con- 
quered by the pen rather than by the sword ; and 
how unavailing against the resources of the world, 
which the North commanded through the sym- 
pathy it had enlisted, was the valiance of that 
heroic army, which, if courage could have availed, 
had withstood the universe. 

That Southern army was worn away as a blade is 
worn by use and yet retains its temper while but a 
fragment exists. 

When the supreme moment came, the South had 
the world against her ; the North had brought to 
its aid the sympathy of Christendom, and its force 
was as the gravitation of the earth — imperceptible, 
yet irresistible. 

From their standpoint they were right, as we 



THE OLD SOUTH 51 

were right from ours. Slavery was a great barrier 
which kept out the light, and the North wrote of 
us in the main only what it believed. 

If it was ignorant, it is our fault that it was not 
enlightened. We denied and fought, but we did 
not argue. Be this, however, our justification, that 
slavery did not admit of argument. Argument 
meant destruction. 

The future historian of the Old South and of its 
civilization is yet to arise. 

If in this audience to-night there be any young 
son of the South in whose veins there beats the 
blood of a soldier who perilled his life for that 
civilization which has been so inadequately out- 
lined, and who, as he has heard from his mother's 
lips the story of his father's glorious sacrifice, has 
felt his pulses throb and his heart burn with noble 
aspiration, let him know that though he may never, 
like his father, be called upon to defend his princi- 
ples with his life, yet he has before him a work not 
less noble, a career not less glorious : the true 
recording of that story, of that civilization whose 
history has never yet been written — the history of 
the Old South. 

What nobler task can he set himself than this — 
to preserve from oblivion, or worse, from misrep- 
resentation, a civilization which produced as its 
natural fruit Washington and Lee ! 

It is said that in all history there is no finer 
flight of human eloquence than that in which the 



52 THE OLD SOUTH 

Athenian orator aroused his countrymen by his 
appeal to the spirits of their sires who fell at Mara- 
thon. Shall not some one preserve the history of 
our fathers who fell in what they deemed a cause 
as sacred ? Can any good come forth of a genera- 
tion that believe that their fathers were traitors ? 
I thank God that the sword of the South will 
nevermore be drawn except in defence of this 
Union ; but I thank God equally that it is now 
without a stain. The time will come when the 
North as well as the South shall know that this 
Union is more secure because of the one heritage 
that our fathers have left us — the heritage of an 
untarnished sword. 

If he shall feel the impulse stirring in his bosom 
to consecrate to this work the powers which have 
been nurtured at the nourishing breasts of this 
bountiful mother, there can be no fitter place for 
his sacrament than these hallowed walls — no bet- 
ter time than the present. 

Within these sacred precincts three monuments 
meet his gaze. Each of them, by coincidence, is 
dedicated to the memory of one who had learnt by 
heart the lesson which that history teaches when 
rightly read, — the devotion of life to duty. 

One of these was the leader of armies, the noblest 
character the South has produced, the great Lee; 
who, putting aside proffers of wealth and place and 
honor, gave himself to teaching the South the sub- 
lime beauty of devotion to duty — that lesson whose 



THE OLD SOUTH 5§ 

most admirable example was his own life. One 
was the surgeon, James M. Ambler, who refused to 
accept his life, and died amid the snows of the Lena 
Delta, pistol in hand, guarding the bodies of his 
dead comrades. Who does not remember the story 
of the young surgeon, kneeling amid the perpetual 
snows, pointing his dying comrades to Christ the 
crucified ! The third, William E. Lynch, was a stu- 
dent, who while yet a lad put into action the same 
divine lesson, and to save a fellow-student plunged 
dauntless into the icy river and died, while yet a 
boy, a hero's death. All three speak to us this 
evening with sublime eloquence the heroic story of 
the Old South ! 

Here within these sacred walls, where the fore- 
most soldier, the knightliest gentleman, the noblest 
man of his race, taught his sublime lesson, and his 
pupils learned to put it into such divine prac- 
tice, the heart cannot but feel that the true story 
of their life must be told, the song must be sung, 
through the ages. 

Not far off repose the ashes of another great 
soldier, Stonewall Jackson, the representative of 
the element that settled this valley, as Lee was 
representative of that which settled the tide-water. 
He flashed across the sky, a sudden meteor, and 
expired with a fame for brilliancy second only to 
Napoleon. 

Near by him, and side by side with his own 
only son, Stonewall Jackson's aide-de-camp, Colonel 



54 THE OLD SOUTH 

Alexander S. Pendleton, slain in battle at the age 
of twenty-three, lies one to whom I owe a personal 
debt which I desire to acknowledge publicly to- 
night : General William Nelson Pendleton, a soldier 
who doffed the cassock for the uniform, and who 
lived a warrior-priest, leading his men in peace as 
he had done in war, and like his old commander, 
the highest type of the Christian soldier. 

Standing here beside the sacred ashes of the 
noblest exponent of that civilization, which I have 
attempted to outline, delivering my message from 
this University, his grandest monument, I hail the 
future historian of the Old South. 



AUTHORSHIP IN THE SOUTH 
BEFORE THE WAR 



AUTHORSHIP IN THE SOUTH 
BEFORE THE WAR 

Discussion of Southern literature during the 
period which preceded the late war naturally re- 
solves itself into a consideration of the causes 
which retarded its growth, since the absence of a 
literature at the South during a period so prolific 
in intellectual energy of a different kind, is one of 
the notable conditions of a civilization which was 
as remarkable in many respects as any that has 
existed in modern times. 

The object of this paper is to set forth the prob- 
able causes which conduced to this absence of litera- 
ture, to place the responsibility where it properly 
belongs, and at the same time to direct attention to 
those courageous spirits who, imbued with love of 
Literature for herself alone, against the inexorable 
destiny of the time, unrecognized and unencouraged, 
aspired and struggled to give the South a literature 
of her own. 

The limitations of this paper, which it is pro- 
posed to devote to the development of work of a 
purely literary character, preclude the possibility of 

67 



58 THE OLD SOUTH 

embracing in it any discussion or even mention of 
professional and economical works, which constitute 
so large a proportion of the writings of the South, — 
such, for example, as the writings of Washington, 
Jefferson, Madison, John Taylor, Calhoun, Benton, 
Rives, Legare', Scott, and others ; the legal works of 
the Tuckers, Lomax, Holcomb, Davis, Robinson, 
Benjamin, Minor, Daniel, and others ; the scientific 
works of Audubon, "Wilson, the Le Contes, Courte- 
nay, Talcott, and others ; the works of the great 
Maury; the historical works of writers in nearly 
every Southern State; the philosophical works of 
the Alexanders, Bledsoe, Breckinridge, Thornwell, 
and many others. Owing to the environment, 
much the larger portion of the writing done by the 
South was philosophical or polemical, only a small 
portion being purely literary. 

It has been generally charged, and almost univer- 
sally believed, that the want of a literature at the 
South was the result of intellectual poverty. The 
charge, however, is without foundation, as will be 
apparent to any fair-minded student who considers 
the position held by the South not only during the 
period of the formation of the government, but also 
throughout the long struggle between the South 
and the North over the momentous questions 
generated by the institution of slavery. In the 
former crisis the South asserted herself with a 
power and wisdom unsurpassed in the history of 
intellectual resource ; throughout the latter period 



AUTHORSHIP BEFORE THE WAR 59 

she maintained the contest with consummate ability 
and with transcendent vigor of intellect. 

The causes of the absence of a Southern literature 
are to be looked for elsewhere than in intellectual 
indigence. The intellectual conditions were such 
as might well have created a noble literature, but 
the physical conditions were adverse to its produc- 
tion and were too potent to be overcome. 

The principal causes were the following : — 

1. The people of the South were an agricultural 
people, widely diffused, and lacking the stimulus 
of immediate mental contact. 

2. The absence of cities, which in the history of 
literary life have proved literary foci essential for 
its production, and the want of publishing-houses 
at the South. 

3. The exactions of the institution of slavery, 
and the absorption of the intellectual forces of the 
people of the South in the solution of the vital 
problems it engendered. 

4. The general ambition of the Southern people 
for political distinction, and the application of their 
literary powers to polemical controversy. 

5. The absence of a reading public at the South 
for American authors, due in part to the conserva- 
tism of the Southern people. 

Instead of being settled in towns and communi- 
ties, as was the case at the North, the bent of the 
people from the first was to hold land in severalty 
in large bodies, and to continue the manorial sys- 



60 THE OLD SOUTH 

tern after the custom of their fathers and their 
kinsmen in the old country, with whom they even 
after the Revolution still kept up a sort of tradi- 
tional association. The possession of slaves, often 
in large numbers, and the imperative responsibilities 
of their regulation and no less of their protection 
which such possession entailed, fostered this inher- 
ent tendency and eventually made the Southern 
people 1 agricultural to the almost total exclusion 
of manufactures. 

No merely agricultural people has ever produced 
a literature. It would appear that for the produc- 
tion of literature some centre is requisite, where 
men with literary instincts may commingle, and 
where their thought may be focussed. 

The life of the South was in the fields, and its 
population was so diffused that there was always 
lacking the mental stimulus necessary to the pro- 
duction of a literature. There were few towns, 

1 It is well to remember that this term " the Southern people," 
although ex vi termini general in its meaning, is applicable in 
this paper and in all discussion of this subject only to the land- 
owning or better class of whites, as contra-distinguished not 
only from the negroes, but also from the lower class of whites, 
who neither possessed the advantages nor incurred the responsi- 
bilities of the upper class. 

This distinction is ordinarily overlooked in the discussion of 
this matter. The importance of the limitation will be apparent- 
however, when it is considered that by the census of 1850 (which 
is assumed as a fair standard because then the growth of litera- 
ture at the North was about at its zenith) the entire slave-hold- 
ing and slave-hiring population of the South was only 347,525. 

This embraces all white artisans and working people, whether 



AUTHORSHIP BEFORE THE "WAR 61 

and yet fewer cities. But these few — Baltimore, 
New Orleans, Charleston, Richmond, and Louisville 
— all attested the truth of this observation. From 
them radiated the occasional beams of light which 
illumined the general darkness of the period, and 
there from time to time appeared the infallible 
signs of literary germination, in the form of maga- 
zines, which, struggling against adverse influences, 
unhappily perished in the process of birth or faded 
untimely in early youth. For example, Niles's Reg- 
ister, which was the first magazine of any perma- 
nence, was published in Baltimore from 1811 to 
1849. The Pinkney s, — Edward Coate, William, and 
".Ninian, — John P. Kennedy, Francis Scott Key, and 
others received its vivifying influence. Elliot's 
and Legare's Southern Review was conducted in 
Charleston from 1828 to 1832, and was followed in 
1835 by The Southern Literary Journal, which ex- 
isted only two years, and in its turn after an inter- 
val was succeeded in 1842 by The Southern Quar- 

in the towns or in the rural districts, who hired one negro 
servant. 

This was the population of the South from which alone could 
spring a literature. Nothing was to he expected from the lower 
class of poor whites, and of course nothing from the negroes, for 
they had no advantages of education, a large percentage of the 
former, and nearly all of the latter, heing unable to read and 
write. 

This ignorance on the part of the lower classes was a neces- 
sary concomitant of slavery, for which institution, notwith- 
standing the long-established popular belief of the outside worM, 
the South was not responsible. 



62 THE OLD SOUTH 

terly Review, which expired in 1856. Besides which, 
there was Simms's Southern and Western Magazine 
and Review. After these the earnest Hayne estab- 
lished Russell's Magazine. These literary ventures, 
with a dozen or so of less note, such as The South- 
ern Literary Gazette, The Cosmopolitan, The Mag- 
nolia, etc., contributed to the evolution and develop- 
ment of William Gilmore Simms, Hugh S. Legare, 
Paul H. Hayne, the Timrods, Porcher, De Bow, and 
others, and became the organs of their thought. 
They created a literary atmosphere of a higher 
quality than existed generally, and supported the 
claim of Charleston to be the chief literary focus 
of the South. De Bow's Review, though scarcely 
to be classed as a mere literary exponent, yet with 
other transitory periodicals subserved the literary 
spirit of New Orleans from 1846 to the outbreak of 
the war. 

The nascent literary feeling of the West found 
expression for a brief period in the Western Review 
in Lexington, Kentucky, but was not strong enough 
to maintain it above a year. But George D. Pren- 
tice opened the Courier Journal to literary aspira- 
tion, and made Louisville the literary centre of 
that section. The genius of Prentice himself found 
an outlet in his columns, and the instinct of many 
others, such as O'Hara, the poetess Amelia B. 
Welby, Mrs. Betts, Mrs. Warneld, and Mrs. Jeffrey, 
was inspired by Prentice's sympathy and fostered 
by his encouragement. 



AUTHORSHIP BEFORE THE WAR 63 

In Kichmond, Virginia, appeared, perhaps the 
most noted literary magazine which the South 
produced, — The Southern Literary Messenger. It 
was undertaken as a mere business venture in 1835, 
and through the inspiring genius of Poe, who began 
immediately to write for it and shortly became its 
editor, it promised for a time to bring a literature 
into being. Although it was supported by the best 
literary writers not only of Virginia but of the 
South and survived until 1864, like its fellows it 
contended against forces too potent to be success- 
fully resisted, and never attained a very high mark 
of literary merit. However, it had much to do 
with sustaining the unstable Poe, and with devel- 
oping nearly all of those writers of the South 
whose names have survived. 

The editors of these periodicals appear to have 
possessed a sufficiently correct appreciation of what 
was requisite, and to have striven bravely enough 
to attain it ; but failure was their invariable lot. 
They besought their contributors to abandon the 
servile copying of English models and address 
themselves to the portrayal of the life around 
them with which they were familiar ; they enlisted 
whatever literary ability there was to be secured ; 
but they received no encouragement and met with 
no success. 

The habits of life and the exigencies of life at 
the South were against them. 

The constituency which should have sustained 



64 THE OLD SOUTH 

them was not only too widely diffused, but was too 
intent on the solution of the vital problems which 
faced it at its own doors, to give that fostering 
encouragement which literary aspiration in its first 
beginning absolutely demands. The South was so 
unremittingly exercised in considering and solving 
the questions which slavery was ever raising that 
it had neither time nor opportunity, if it had the 
inclination, to apply itself to other matters. The 
intellectual powers of the South were absorbingly 
devoted to this subject, and in consequence of the 
exigencies of life at the South generally took the 
direction of spoken and not of written speech. 
Where writing was indulged in, it was almost inva- 
riably of the philosophical, polemical character. 

"Literature," says Carlyle, "is the thought of 
thinking souls." Accepting this definition, the 
South was rich in literature. There was sufficient 
poetry and wisdom delivered on the porticos and in 
the halls of the Southern people to have enriched 
the age, had it but been transmitted in permanent 
form ; but wanting both the means and the inclina- 
tion to put it in an abiding form, they were wasted 
in discourse or were spent in mere debate. 

Owing to the position which the South occupied 
because of the institution of slavery and the diffi- 
culties engendered by that institution, the whole 
fabric of life at the South was infused with poli- 
tics, and oratory was universally cultivated. Thus 
the profession of the law, which afforded the oppor 



AUTHOESHIP BEFOKE THE WAR 65 

tunity at once for the practice and for the application 
of oratory, and which was the chief highway to 
political preferment, became the general avenue by 
which all aspiring genius sought to achieve power 
and fame, and writing was in consequence neglected, 
as too indirect a mode to accomplish the desired 
end. 

There was much writing done, but it was of the 
kind which is not deemed incompatible with proper 
loyalty to the law, taking the invariable form of 
political disquisition or of polemical discussion. 
In these, indeed, the Southerner indefatigably in- 
dulged, and attained a rare degree of perfection. 
Thus, the philosophical works of such men as 
Madison, John Taylor of Caroline, Calhoun, etc., 
and the public prints of the day generally, ex- 
hibit powers which abundantly refute the charge 
that the absence of a literature was due to mental 
poverty. In the city of Richmond alone were 
four writers for the daily press whose brilliant 
work is a guarantee of the success they would 
have achieved in any department of literature they 
might have chosen. These were Thomas Ritchie, 
John Hampden Pleasants, Edward T. Johnston, and 
John M. Daniel. In their time the editorial columns 
of the Enquirer, Whig, and Examiner possessed a 
potency which is at this time well-nigh inconceiva- 
ble. They may be said to have almost controlled the 
destinies of the great political parties of the coun- 
try. The Whig and the Enquirer were the bitter- 



66 THE OLD 80TTTH 

est antagonists, their hostility resulting finally in a 
fatal duel between Pleasants, the editor of the 
Wliig, and a son of his rival, " Mr. Ritchie/ 7 of the 
Enquirer. But this antagonism may be as well 
shown by a less tragic illustration : the Enquirer was 
accustomed to publish original poetry in a column 
at the head of which stood the legend, " Much yet 
remains unsung" ; the Whig kept standing a notice 
that "poetry" would be published at a dollar a line. 

It would indeed appear that, with the potency 
of intellectual demonstration so constantly and so 
forcibly illustrated throughout the land, the South- 
erner would have been irresistibly impelled to seek 
a wider field, a more extensive audience, and would 
inevitably have sought to put into permanent form 
the product of his mind. 

What might not the eloquence and genius of 
Clay have effected had they been turned in the 
direction of literature, or what the mental acumen, 
the philosophic force, the learning, of Calhoun, of 
whom Dr. Dwight said when he left college that 
the young man knew enough to be President of the 
United States ! How much did literature lose when 
Marshall, Wirt, the Lees, Martin, Pinkney, Berrien, 
Hayne, Preston, Cobb, Clingman, Ruffin, Legare, 
Soule - , Davis, Roane, Johnston, Crittenden, devoted 
all their brilliant powers to politics and the law ! 
John Randolph boasted that he should " go down 
to the grave guiltless of rhyme," yet his letters 
contain the concentrated essence of intellectual 



AUTHORSHIP BEFORE THE WAR 67 

energy; his epigrams stung like a branding-iron, 
and are the current coin of tradition throughout his 
native State two generations after his death. 

Literature stood no chance because the ambition 
of young men of the South was universally turned 
in the direction of political distinction, and because 
the monopoly of advancement held by the profession 
of the law was too well established and too clearly 
recognized to admit of its claim being contested; 
and once in the service of the law there be few 
with either the inclination or the courage to assert 
any independence. Even now the Southerner will 
not believe that a man can be a lawyer and an 
author. Yet it was not unnatural that the major 
portion of such literary work as was done at the 
South was done by lawyers. 

Their profession called forth the exercise of the 
highest intellectual powers, and necessarily they 
occasionally strayed into the adjoining domain of 
letters. The pity of it is that their literary work 
was in the main but the desultory "jottings down" 
in their hours of recreation of fragmentary sketches, 
which were usually based on the humorous phases 
of life with which their profession made them fa- 
miliar, and almost the best is stamped with the 
mark of an apparent dilettanteism. 

Chief Justice Marshall took time to write a life 
of Washington, but there was little biography 
attempted. William Wirt early in the century 
entertained himself amid the exactions of practice 



68 THE OLD SOUTH 

by contributing to the Bichmond Argus " The Let« 
ters of a British Spy," and subsequently wrote his 
" Old Bachelor " and his " Life of Patrick Henry," 
on the last of which his present fame rests more 
than on his reputation as a great lawyer, even 
though he was one of the most distinguished advo- 
cates the nation has produced, was counsel in the 
most celebrated case which the legal annals of the 
country contain, and was among the ablest Attorney- 
Generals of the United States. Indeed, almost the 
only recollection of the great Burr trial which sur- 
vives to the general public is the extract from 
Wirt's speech, preserved as a literary fragment, 
describing the Isle of Blennerhassett. Happily for 
his fame, Wirt held that, though a lawyer should 
strive to be a great lawyer, yet he should not be " a 
mere lawyer." 

Among other writers of the South who were 
lawyers were the Tuckers of Virginia, ■ — St. George 
(Si\), who was a poet and an essayist as well as 
a jurist, George, the essayist, Henry St. George, 
Nathaniel Beverley, author of "The Partisan 
Leader," and St. George (Jr.), author of "Hans- 
ford, a Tale of Bacon's Bebellion." There was also 
John Pendleton Kennedy, of Maryland. These 
might have retrieved the reputation of the South 
in respect to literature if the Tuckers had not de- 
voted all their best energies to the law, and if Ken- 
nedy had not been, as Poe said of him, " over head 
and ears in business " relating to the bar, his seat 
in Congress, and his seat in the Cabinet. 



AUTHORSHIP BEFORE THE WAR 69 

William Gilmore Simms began life as a lawyer, 
but his love for literature proved irrepressible, and 
in an evil hour for his material welfare he aban- 
doned the profession and devoted himself to liter- 
ature. 

Others who were lawyers were Eichard Henry 
Wilde, the poet, Joseph G. Baldwin, author of 
" Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi," Augus- 
tus B. Longstreet, author of "Georgia Scenes," 
Philip Pendleton Cooke, the poet, John Esten 
Cooke, the novelist, the Pinkneys, Edward Coate 
and Frederick^ Francis Scott Key, Thomas Hart 
Benton, Hugh Swinton Legar£, Alexander B. Meek, 
Francis Gilmer, the essayist, Charles ^tienne Ar- 
thur Gayarrd, the historian, dramatist, and novelist, 
Henry Timrod, Paul H. Hayne, John R. Thompson, 
James Barron Hope, and many others. 

It is a full list, nearly complete, and comprises 
poets, novelists, essayists, and historians. Poe and 
Lanier were almost the only notable exceptions. 
With Poe, as he declared, poetry was "not a purpose, 
but a passion " ; and in whatever else his besetting 
weakness made him fickle, he at least never wa- 
vered in his loyalty to his first and best love. 

It was not remarkable that the law was preferred 
to literature, for in sober truth it required sterner 
stuff than most men were compounded of, and a 
more absorbing passion than most men were ani- 
mated by, to follow literature as a pursuit. To do 
so was to take the vow of poverty. When Poe, 



70 THE OLD SOUTH 

even after having made a name, was receiving 
only four dollars and a half per printed magazine 
page for his marvellous work; when as editor of 
the magazine he thought himself generously re- 
warded by a salary of $520 per annum; when 
" The Gold-Bug," written at almost the height of 
his fame, brought only $52 and " The Raven " only 
$10, it must have been apparent to every sensible 
man that, whatever the rewards of literature might 
be, a reasonable support was not among them. Re- 
ducing the question to the unromantic level of fair 
compensation, there were few who were willing to 
give for a contingent interest in a niche of Fame's 
temple, which, in the language of the law, was, at 
best, potentia remotissima, the bread and butter and 
bonnets and equipages which were assured at the 
bar. 

William Gilmore Simms, who was one of the 
very first who had the temerity to brave the hard- 
ships of a literary life, complained that he had never 
held the position which rightfully belonged to him, 
because he made his living as a writer. 

The responsibility for the want of a literature 
was not with the writers, but with the environ- 
ment. There was lacking not only the mental 
stimulus of contact between mind and mind, but 
also that yet more essential inspiration, sympathy 
with literary effort, which is as necessary to liter- 
ary vitality as the atmosphere is to physical exist- 
ence. One of Philip Pendleton Cooke's neighbors 



AUTHOKSHIP BEFORE THE WAR 71 

said to him after he became known as the author 
of " Florence Vane," " I wouldn't waste time on a 
damned thing like poetry : you might make your- 
self, with all your sense and judgment, a useful 
man in settling neighborhood disputes and diffi- 
culties." 

It is matter for little wonder that the poet 
declared that one had as much chance with such 
people as a dolphin would have if in one of his 
darts he pitched in among the machinery of a mill. 

As a consequence of the South' s position during 
this period, there was another barrier to literature. 
The standard of literary work was not a purely 
literary standard, but one based on public opin- 
ion^which in its turn was founded on the general 
consensus that the existing institution was not 
to be impugned, directly or indirectly, on any 
ground or by any means whatsoever. 

This was an atmosphere in which literature could 
not flourish. In consequence, where literature was 
indulged in it was in a half-apologetic way, as if it 
were not altogether compatible with the social dig- 
nity of the author. ' Thought which in its expres- 
sion has any other standard than fidelity to truth, 
whatever secondary value it may have, cannot 
possess much value as literature. "The Partisan 
Leader " was secretly printed in 1836, and was after- 
wards suppressed. It was again republished just 
before the beginning of the war, and was a second 
time suppressed or withdrawn. Augustus B. Long- 



72 THE OLD SOUTH 

street, although, he subsequently became a preacher, 
was at the bar when he wrote " Georgia Scenes." 
He was so ashamed of having been beguiled into 
writing what is one of the raciest books of sketches 
yet produced, a book by which alone his name is 
now preserved, that he made a strenuous effort to 
secure and suppress the work after its publication. 
Even Eichard Henry Wilde, who was a poet, and 
who should have possessed a poet's love for his art, 
did not conceive his best poem, " My Life is like 
the Summer Rose," worthy of acknowledgment. It 
was "The Lament of the Captive" in an epic poem 
which was never finished, and was published with- 
out his authority, and he was hardly persuaded to 
assert his claim to its authorship when, after it 
had been for a score of years merely " attributed " 
to him in this country, and in Great Britain had 
been known and admired as " a poem by an Ameri- 
can lawyer," it was unblushingly claimed and stolen 
by several more ambitious versifiers, who, if they 
failed to recognize the obligation of the eighth com- 
mandment, at least appreciated the value of liter- 
ary talent higher than the real poet. The poem 
was as a hoax translated into Greek by Barclay, of 
Savannah, and was attributed to a poet called Al- 
casus, and a controversy having arisen as to whether 
it was really written by an Irishman named O'Kelly, 
who had published it in a volume of his poems as 
his, or whether he had stolen it from the old Greek, 
Mr. Wilde, who was then a member of Congress from 



AUTHORSHIP BEFORE THE WAR 73 

Georgia, was finally induced to admit that he had 
written the poem twenty years before. This he did 
in a letter characteristic of the time, declaring that 
he valued " these rhymes " very differently from 
others, and avowed their authorship only in compli- 
ance with the wishes of those he esteemed. 

This attitude on the part of the South, taken in 
connection with the diffusion of its population, fur- 
nishes the only reasonable solution of the singular 
fact that the South produced so little literature not- 
withstanding its culture ; for culture it possessed, and 
of the best kind, — the culture of the classics, the 
most fertilizing of all intellectual forces. If the 
lower classes were ignorant, the upper class univer- 
sally emphasized the distinction between them by 
giving their children the best education that could be 
obtained. Jefferson deplored the fact that over one- 
half of the students at Princeton were Virginians, 
and he founded the University of Virginia that 
Southerners might be able to secure the best edu- 
cation at home. Upon this sure foundation of a 
university training was laid the superstructure of 
constant association with the best classical authors. 

These established the standard, and the South- 
erner held in contempt any writer who did not at 
once conform to their style and equal their merit. 

Poe in his early manhood bitterly declared that 
" one might suppose that books, like their authors, 
improve by travel, their having crossed the sea is 
with us so great a distinction." 



74 THE OLD SOUTH 

To any good in what was penned and published 
on this side the Atlantic the Southerner was, as a 
general thing, absolutely and incurably blind. If 
the work was written south of Mason and Dixon's 
line it was incontinently contemned as " trashy " ; if 
it emanated from the North, it was vehemently de- 
nounced as " Yankee." In either case it was con- 
demned. 

With this in mind, it is not surprising that, with 
all the intellectual resources of the South, so few 
writers should have been found with the inclination 
or the temerity to attempt a work thus sure to ter- 
minate in failure, if not to incur contempt. If one 
should attempt it, where could he secure a pub- 
lisher ? There were few at the South, and to seek a 
publisher at the North was to hazard repulse there 
and insure criticism at home. 

Thus, the true explanation of the absence of a 
Southern literature of a high order during this 
epoch was not the want of literary ability. There 
was genius enough to have founded a literature, but 
there were no publishers generally, and there was 
never any public. 

Yet from the untoward conditions delineated 
issued a literary genius of the first rank. 

Notwithstanding the coldness and indifference 
which he encountered in this State, Poe ever de- 
clared himself a Virginian ; and, with all due 
respect to certain latter-day critics, who assert the 
contrary, it must be said that to those familiar 



AUTHORSHIP BEFORE THE WAR 75 

with the qualities and with the points of difference 
between the Northern and Southern civilizations, 
Poe's poems are as distinctly Southern in their 
coloring, tone, and temper as Wordsworth's are 
English. The wild landscape, the flower-laden 
atmosphere, the delirious richness, are their setting, 
and a more than tropical passion interfuses them 
as unmistakably as the air of English lawns and 
meadows breathes through Tennyson's master- 
pieces. We find in them everywhere 

Dim vales and shadowy floods, 
And cloudy-looking woods, 
"Whose forms we can't discover 
For the trees that drip all over. 

Poe, however, was limited by no boundary, geo- 
graphical or other. The spirit-peopled air, the 
infernal chambers of fancied inquisitions, the re- 
gions of the moon, the imagined horrors of post- 
mortem sentience, were equally his realm. In all 
his vast and weird and wonderful genius roamed 
unconfined and equally at home. In all he created 
his own atmosphere, and projected his marvellous 
fancies with an originality and a power whose 
universal application is the undeniable and perfect 
proof of his supreme genius. 

That he failed of his immediate audience was 
due, in part, to his own unfortunate disposition, 
but yet more to the time and to the blindness 
which visited upon works of incomparable literary 



76 THE OLD SOUTH 

merit the sins of physical frailty: the creations 
of his genius, by reason of their very originality, 
were contemned as the ravings of a disordered and 
unbalanced mind, and, unrecognized at home, Poe 
was forced to wander to an alien clime in search of 
bread. 

With his personal habits this paper is not con- 
cerned. His life has been for more than a, genera- 
tion the object of attack and vituperation which 
have raged with inconceivable violence. From the 
time that Griswold perpetrated his " immortal in- 
famy/' vindictiveness has found in Poe's career its 
most convenient target. Yet the works of this 
unfortunate have caught the human heart, and are 
to-day the common property of the English-speak- 
ing races, whether dwelling in Virginia or Massa- 
chusetts, Great Britain or Australia, and have been 
translated into the language of every civilized 
nation of Europe. A recent interview with the 
English publishers, the Koutledges, showed that 
twenty-nine thousand copies of Poe's Tales had 
been sold by them in the year 1887, as against less 
than one-third of that number of many of the most 
popular and famous of our other American writers. 

The obligation to Poe has never been duly recog- 
nized. It is said that the Latin poems of Milton 
first opened the eyes of the Italians to the fact that 
the island which Csesar had conquered had become 
civilized. The first evidence of culture which was 
accepted abroad, after the long night of silence 



AUTHORSHIP BEFORE THE WAR 77 

which covered the South after the departure of the 
great fathers of the Eepublic, "was the work of 
Edgar A. Poe. It is not more to the credit of the 
North than of the South, that when the latter 
threw him off starving, the former failed to give 
him more than a crust. 

" The Raven " created a sensation, and still 
thrills every poetic mind with wonder at its mar- 
vellous music and its mysterious power, but, though 
it secured for its author fame, it brought him only 
ten dollars' worth of bread. If literature has not 
advanced since that day, at least the welfare of lit- 
erary men has done so. The writer of a short story 
or paper which is deemed worthy of a place in one 
of the modern monthly magazines of the better class, 
even though he may have no reputation, receives 
at least ten dollars per printed page ; whilst, if he 
be at all well known, he may expect double or 
quadruple that sum. Poe received for some of 
his immortal works four dollars per printed page. 

Poe's poetry discovered a fresh realm in the 
domain of fancy ; but his prose works are, if pos- 
sible, even more remarkable. His critical faculty 
installed a new era in criticism. Up to this time 
the literary press, too imbecile to possess, or too 
feeble to assert independence, cringed fawning at 
the feet of every writer whose position was assured 
among what was recognized as the literary set, and 
accepted with laudation, or at least with flattering 
deference, all publications which bore the talis- 



78 THE OLD SOUTH 

manic charm of an established name. Poe un 
doubtedly was at times too much influenced by 
personal feeling, but, with the courage of one who 
had vowed his life to truth, he stripped off the 
mask of dull respectability, and relentlessly ex- 
posed sham and vacuity under whatever name they 
appeared. 

" If," as Mr. Lowell said, " he seems at times to 
mistake his vial of prussic acid for his inkstand," 
yet he lifted literary criticism from the abasement 
of snivelling imbecility into which it had sunk, and 
established it upon a basis founded on the princi- 
ples of analysis, philosophy, and art. 

If in discussing the works of female writers his 
susceptible nature and his chivalrous instinct unduly 
inclined him to bestow praise on what was mere 
trash, yet no less an authority than Mr. Lowell 
said of him that he was " the most discriminating, 
philosophical, and fearless critic upon imaginative 
works who has ever written in America." 

His own imaginative works created a new school, 
and have never been equalled in their peculiar 
vein, or surpassed in any vein whatever in the 
qualities of originality, force, and art. 

Edgar A. Poe died at the age of thirty-nine, 
when the powers and faculties are just matured. 
What might he not have done had he lived out the 
full span of man's allotted life ! 

He was not prolific either in prose or in verse, 
his health or his habits frequently incapacitating 



AUTHORSHIP BEFORE THE WAR, 79 

him from work ; but both his poems and his tales 
not only evince his genius, but exhibit the highest 
degree of literary art. 

It has become the fashion to decry Poe and to 
disparage his work ; but the detraction which has 
been expended upon him for a period extending 
over nearly two generations has only made his 
literary fame brighter. As Mr. Gosse has aptly 
said, he has been a veritable piper of Hamelin to 
all American writers since his time. 

If we are compelled to admit that he is the one 
really great writer of purely literary work that the 
South produced under its old conditions, it is no 
reflection on the South or its civilization, for the 
North during the same period, with an educated 
population many times larger, can claim only three 
or four, whilst England herself, "with all appli- 
ances and means to boot," can number hardly more 
than a score. 

There were other writers besides Poe who braved 
the chilling indifference of the time, and who wrote 
and strove, devoting labor and life to the endeavor 
to awake the South to a realization of its literary 
abilities. 

But few of them have survived to more than 
mention in works of reference, and the most that 
can bo done is tvj inention those whose work was 
distinctive in its character or scope, or whe **" tkair 
diligence and ardor may be deemed to have tot- 
warded the cause of Southern literature. 



80 THE OLD SOUTH 

Excepting Poe, who stands pre-eminent above all 
others, the three leading literary men of the South 
during the period which extended down to the war 
were John Pendleton Kennedy, of Maryland, Wil- 
liam Gilmore Simms, of South Carolina, and John 
Esten Cooke, of Virginia. 

There were others who, in prose or in verse, in a 
short sketch or a lyric, struck perhaps a higher key 
than these did, but the effort was rarely repeated, 
and these were the leading literary men of the 
South, not merely as authors, but as the friends 
and promoters of literature. 

Of these Kennedy was first in time, whilst Simms 
was first in his devotion to literature and in the 
work he accomplished. Indeed, no one in the his- 
tory of Southern literature ever applied himself 
more assiduously and loyally to its development 
than Simms. Both of these exercised a wider in- 
fluence upon the literary spirit of the South than 
that which proceeded immediately from their works. 
Kennedy, who was born in 1795 in Baltimore, where 
he lived all of his long life, had not only made his 
mark as a lawyer and man of affairs, but as the 
author of " Swallow Barn " had already acquired a 
reputation as a literary man, when in the autumn 
of 1833 the two prizes offered by the proprietors of 
the Saturday Visitor, a weekly literary journal 
of Baltimore, were awarded, by the committee of 
which he was chairman, to an unknown young man 
named Poe. It was not deemed proper to give so 



AUTHORSHIP BEFORE THE WAR 81 

much to one person, so he received only one prize. 
It was owing to Mr. Kennedy's interest and kind- 
ness that the young author, who was in the most 
desperate straits, was secured an opening in the col- 
umns of the Southern Literary Messenger and sub- 
sequently became its editor; and the prosperous 
litterateur was the friend and encourager of the 
indigent genius as long as the latter lived. 

Mr. Kennedy's novels, " Swallow Barn," a story 
of rural life in Virginia ; " Horseshoe Kobinson," a 
tale of the Tory ascendency in South Carolina; 
and " Eob of the Bowl," a story of Maryland, gave 
him position among the leading novelists of his 
day, and placed him first among the Southern liter- 
ary men of his time. 

His other works than those named are a satire 
entitled " Annals of Quodlibet," a memoir of Wil- 
liam Wirt, in two volumes, etc. He continued to 
write until his death, long after the war. 

William Gilmore Simms, of South Carolina, was 
not only the most prolific, but, with the exception 
of Poe, was the chief distinctly literary man the 
South has produced. The measure of his industry 
was immense. His ability was of a high order, and 
his devotion to literature was, for the time, extraor- 
dinary. As poet, novelist, historian, biographer, 
essayist, he was not surpassed by any one of his 
compeers ; and if his whole work be considered, he 
was first. From 1827, when he brought out in 
Charleston his first venture, a volume entitled 



82 THE OLD SOUTH 

"Lyrical and Other Poems," to the time of his deati 
in 1870, he was assiduously and earnestly engaged 
in the attempt to create a literature for the South 
His first devotion was to poetry, and he publishec 
three volumes of poems before he was twenty-six 
years of age. Although he continued to write poetry 
after this, it is chiefly as a writer of fiction that he 
made his reputation and that his name is now pre- 
served. Poe declared him the best novelist after 
Cooper this country had produced, and, although 
to us now his works have the faults of that time, 
too great prolixity, too much description, and the 
constant tendency to disquisition, they are of a 
much higher order as romances than books of many 
of the novelists of the present day whose works 
receive general praise. His works comprise a series 
of novels, most of them based on the more romantic 
phases of the old Southern life, several volumes of 
poems, several dramas, and several biographies. 
" The Yemassee " is perhaps the best of his novels, 
but many of them had a considerable vogue in their 
day, and the renewed demand for them has recently 
caused a new edition to be published. 

John Esten Cooke, the third of the trio, was like 
the other two both a novelist and a biographer. 
He possessed a fine imagination, and under more 
exacting conditions he might have reached a high 
mark and have made a permanent name in our 
literature. His publications before the war were 
"Leather Stocking and Silk" (1854), "The Vir- 



AUTHORSHIP BEFORE THE WAR 83 

ginia Comedians" (2 vols., 1854), "The Youth of 
Jefferson" (1854), "Ellie" (1855), "The Last of 
the Foresters" (1856), and "Bonnybel Vane, or 
The History of Henry St. John, Gentleman" 
(1859). In addition to these, he wrote numerous 
sketches. Candor compels the admission that, al- 
though very popular, these earlier works are not 
of a very high order. The war, however, in which 
the young novelist served honorably on the staff of 
General J. E. B. Stuart, the celebrated Confederate 
cavalry leader, gave him a new impulse, and his 
later works, such as "Surry of Eagle's Nest," 
"Mohun," "Hilt to Hilt," "Hammer and Rapier," 
and "Wearing of the Gray," are very much better 
than the earlier; whilst his biographical and his- 
torical works are probably best of all. These, how- 
ever, were written under the new conditions, and 
belong properly to the post-bellum literature of the 
South. Cooke wrote of Virginia life as Simms 
wrote of South Carolina life, with affection, appre- 
ciation, and spirit, but, like both Simms and 
Kennedy, he failed to strike the highest note. The 
same may be said of Dr. William A. Caruthers, 
also a Virginian, who had preceded Cooke and 
Simms, and who is entitled with the latter and 
Mr. Kennedy to the honor of first discovering the 
romantic material afforded the novelist in the pic- 
turesque life of their own section. His first book, 
a The Cavaliers of Virginia, or the Recluse of 
Jamestown, an Historical Romance of the Old 



84 THE OLD SOUTH 

Dominion," appeared in 1832, It dealt with the 
most romantic episode in the history of the South, 
if not of the entire country, — Bacon's Rebellion. 
This was followed in 1845 by the novel on which 
his name now rests, "The Knights of the Horse- 
shoe, a Traditionary Tale of the Cocked-Hat Gentry 
in the Old Dominion." He also wrote a volume of 
sketches entitled " The Kentuckian in New York, 
or the Adventures of Three Southerners," and 
a "Life of Dr. Caldwell." This same romantic 
period was likewise the subject of a novel by St. 
George Tucker (the younger), entitled "Hansford, 
a Tale of Bacon's Rebellion," which was published 
in 1857 by George M. West, of Richmond, Virginia, 
and which had much popularity in its day. 

These books are so good, or, more accurately, 
they have in them so much that is good, that one 
cannot but wonder they are not better. These 
writers possessed the Southerner's love for the 
South; they perfectly comprehended the value of 
the material its life furnished, and recognized the 
importance of preserving this life in literature ; 
they earnestly endeavored to accomplish this, and 
yet they failed to preserve it in its reality. It is 
melancholy to contemplate, and it is difficult to com- 
prehend. They wrote with spirit, with zeal, with 
affection, and generally in the chastest and most 
beautiful English, but somehow they just missed 
the highest mark. It is as if they had set their 
song in the wrong key. 



AUTHORSHIP BEFORE THE WAR 85 

The chief fault of their books was a certain imi- 
tativeness, and adherence to old methods. Scott 
had set the fashion, and it was so admirable that 
it led all the writers to copying him. G. P. P. 
James gave him in dilution. Cooper had attained 
immense popularity, and was more easily followed ; 
but to imitate Scott was a perilous undertaking. 
The stripling in the king's armor was not more 
encumbered. 

Yet must this be said in defence of all these 
writers, that we are looking at their work through 
a different atmosphere from that in which they 
wrote. Fashion in writing, where it is not informed 
by genius, passes away, as in other things. Only 
art remains ever new, ever fresh, ever true. Just 
as Miss Burney and Eichardson doubtless appeared 
antiquated to these, so they now appear to us, who 
are accustomed to a different treatment, stilted and 
unreal. 

After these authors came the sketch-writers, who, 
if Poe's dictum that a short story is the most per- 
fect form of prose literature is correct, should be 
placed before them. The chief of these, excepting 
Poe himself, were Joseph G. Baldwin, Augustus B. 
Longstreet, William Tappan Thompson, St. Leger 
L. Carter, and George W. Bagby. 

Joseph G. Baldwin was the author of "Flush 
Times of Alabama and Mississippi," which is per- 
haps the raciest collection of sketches yet published 
in America. This volume within a year of its first 



86 THE OLD SOUTH 

publication in 1853 had run into its seventh edi- 
tion. " Ovid Bolus, Esq." and " Simon Suggs, Jr., 
Esq." became at once characters as well known 
throughout the South as was Sam "Weller or Micky- 
Free; whilst the case of " Higginbotham versus 
Swink, Slander " became a cause c&lebre. 

Augustus B. Longstreet, of Mississippi, was the 
author of " Georgia Scenes, Characters, Incidents, 
etc., in the Eirst Half-Century of the Bepublic," 
and other sketches. He also wrote a long story 
entitled " Master William Mitten." 

William Tappan Thompson was the author of 
"Major Jones's Courtship," "Major Jones's Chron- 
icle of Pineville," " Major Jones's Sketches of 
Travel," and other sketches. 

Yet another was Dr. George W. Bagby, of Vir- 
ginia, who succeeded John R. Thompson as editor 
of The Southern Literary Messenger, and who wrote 
before the war over the nom de plume of " Mozis 
Addums." The quality of his serious work was 
higher than that of the other sketch-writers enu- 
merated; and, being wider in its scope, its value 
was greater than theirs, though his writings were 
never published in book form until after his death, 
when two volumes were brought out in Richmond, 
Virginia. Much of his writing was done after the 
war, but prior to that period he had accomplished 
enough to entitle him to the credit of being a lit- 
erary man at a time when literature in the South 
was without the compensations by which it was 
subsequently attended. 



AUTHORSHIP BEFORE THE WAR 87 

No one has ever written so delicately of the 
South, and his "Old Virginia Gentleman" is the 
most beautiful sketch of life in the South that has 
ever appeared. 

Besides these classes of writers there existed 
another class whose writings not only far exceeded 
in volume those of the authors who have been men- 
tioned, but were also far more successful. 

The chief of these were Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz, 
Mrs. E. D. E. K Southworth, Mrs. Catherine Ann 
Warfield, and Miss Augusta J. Evans. They were 
followed by a sisterhood of writers far too numerous 
for mention, whose work, whatever its permanent 
value, is entitled to honorable notice as evidencing 
an ambition on the part of the Southern women to 
create a Southern literature. There were about 
two hundred in all, who have written novels, books 
of travel, sketches, and volumes of poems. If they 
have not generally soared very high, they have at 
least lifted themselves above the common level, and 
are entitled to the respect of the South for their 
loyal endeavor to do their part towards her eleva- 
tion. Both Mrs. Hentz and Mrs. Southworth wrote 
many novels and yet more numerous sketches, the 
popularity of which in their day was extraordinary. 
Perhaps the best of Mrs. Hentz's romances are 
"The Mob-Cap" (1848), "Linda" (1850), "Kena" 
(1851), and " The Planter's Northern Bride." Mrs. 
Southworth has written over fifty novels, besides 
shorter stories. Her first book, "Retribution," 



88 THE OLD SOUTH 

written for the Washington National Era, was 
subsequently published in a volume in 1849, and 
had an immense sale. It was rapidly followed 
by " The Deserted Wife," « The Missing Bride," 
" Love's Labor Won," " The Lost Heiress," " Fallen 
Pride," " Curse of Clifton," etc., to the number 
above stated. In all of these novels the element 
of romance is emphasized. Some of Mrs. South- 
worth's books were vehemently assailed, but, as 
the public is much more intent on being entertained 
than on being elevated, they generally attained an 
extensive popularity. The Southern life is utilized 
by both these writers, but in so exaggerated or 
unreal a form that the pictures are too untrue to be 
relied on. Both authors were of Northern birth, 
whilst their lives were spent at the South. Is it 
significant of the fact that the Northern literary 
press was not in "old times" open to writers of 
Southern birth, or that public sentiment was against 
Southern women publishing, or of both ? 

Mrs. Terhune ("Marion Harland") is entitled 
to stand in a class by herself, since her books 
"Alone," "The Hidden Path," "Moss Side," and 
" Nemesis," which were published before the war, 
as well as those which have appeared since that 
time, are in a much higher literary key than those 
of the authors named. Like the others, she has 
used the Southern life as. material in her work; 
but she has exhibited a literary sense of a far higher 
order, and an artistic touch to which the others are 
strangers. 



AUTHOESHIP BEFORE THE WAR 89 

There existed yet another class, whose work, 
although not extensive in amount, was yet of a 
quality to enlist the attention and evoke the respect 
of American readers. The Southern poets were not 
numerous : poetry even more peculiarly than prose 
demands a sympathetic atmosphere. Such was not 
to be found at the South. The standards there were 
Shakespeare, Dryden, and Pope ; no less would be 
tolerated. Before Wilde could admit his author- 
ship of "My Life is like the Summer Rose" he 
had to establish himself as a fine lawyer and an able 
politician ; Philip Pendleton Cooke, as an offset to 
" Florence Vane" and the "Froissart Ballads," found 
it necessary to avouch his manhood as the crack 
turkey-shot of the Valley of Virginia. Yet the 
poets wrote, if not much, still real poetry, and 
poetry which will live as a part of the best Ameri- 
can literature. In this domain, as in others, Poe 
soared high above all the rest. He was not profuse ; 
but he was excellent, pre-eminent. He is one of the 
poets of the English-speaking race. Wilde, Cooke, 
Pinkney, Key, Meek, Lamar, Lipscomb, Vawter, and 
others have been already referred t©. The " Sonnet 
to a Mocking-bird " by the first is as fine as his other 
more popular poem already mentioned. Mr. Wilde 
resided in Italy for some time, and published the 
result of his researches there in a work in two 
volumes, entitled "Conjectures and Researches con- 
cerning the Love, Madness, and Imprisonment of 
Torquato Tasso," which contains fine translations 



90 THE OLD SOUTH 

from Tasso and is otherwise valuable. He also 
wrote a " Life of Dante," and a long poem entitled 
"Hesperia," besides a number of translations of 
Italian lyrics which were not published until after 
his death. 

Cooke, besides " Florence Vane," which Poe de- 
clared the sweetest lyric ever written in America, 
and which has been translated into many foreign 
languages, wrote many other lyrics, of which the 
most popular and perhaps the best are the " Lines 
to my Daughter Lily " and " Rosa Lee." He also 
wrote a number of sketches, among which are " John 
Carpe," "The Gregories of Hackwood," and "The 
Crime of Andrew Blair." 

He died at the age of thirty-three, when his bril- 
liant powers were still in bud. 

Edward Coate Pinkney was a member of a family 
distinguished for literary taste and ability. His 
uncle, Ninian Pinkney, as early as 1809 published 
a book of " Travels in the South of Prance and in 
the Interior of the Provinces of Provence and Lan- 
guedoc," of which Leigh Hunt said, " It set all the 
idle world to going to France to live on the charming 
banks of the Loire." 

His brother Frederick was also a poet. Pinkney's 
poems were so exquisite that after their first pub- 
lication in 1825 he was requested to sit for a por- 
trait to be included in a sketch of "The Five 
Greatest Poets of the Nation." " A Health " and 
" The Picture Song " have an established place in 
our literature. 



AUTHORSHIP BEFORE THE WAR 91 

Lanier and Ticknor, of Georgia ; John E. Thomp. 
son, of Virginia ; Dimitry, of Louisiana ; Ryan, etc., 
belong to a later time. Sidney Lanier was easily 
the next Southern poet to Poe, and has not been 
surpassed by any other that this country has pro- 
duced. 

Perhaps Henry Timrod and Paul H. Hayne also 
more properly belong to that period, but before the 
war they had done work which by its worth and 
volume entitles them to be ranked of all Southern 
poets next after Poe. 

Hayne in South Carolina was, with Simms and 
others, inspiring just before the war an emulation 
which promised a brighter literary future than there 
had previously been ground to hope for. John E. 
Thompson, as editor of the Southern Literary Mes- 
senger, was performing the same work for Virginia. 
Had Hayne and Thompson received greater encour- 
agement, their fine talents might have yielded a 
return which would have made their native land 
as proud of her brilliant sons as they deserved. 

Besides the authors mentioned in this paper, there 
were very many others who, by occasional essays at 
literature in prose or in verse, attained something 
more than a local reputation, but they were dis- 
tinguished rather in other professions than in lit- 
erature, whilst most of those which have been 
mentioned are now chiefly distinguished for the 
literary work they accomplished. 

If it shall appear from this very imperfect sum- 



92 THE OLD SOUTH 

mary of the literary work done by the South, and 
of the causes which influenced it, that the amount 
produced was small, attention should be called 
again first, to the insignificant number of the 
slave-holding whites of the South, from whom alone, 
as the educated class, a literature could come ; and 
secondly, to the intellectual energy which that 
limited population displayed throughout the entire 
period of their existence. The intellectual work 
they accomplished will compare not unfavorably 
with that of a similar number of any other people 
during the same period; and the thoughtful and 
dispassionate student, to whatever causes he may 
deem to be due the absence of a literature among 
the Southern people, will not attribute it to either 
mental indigence or mental lassitude. 



GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN COLONIAL 
VIRGINIA 



GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN COLONIAL 
VIRGINIA 

Few things relating to the South have been more 
misunderstood than its social life. Even the South- 
ern people themselves have not generally had a 
very correct idea of its proportions. 

Owing to the astounding indifference of our peo- 
ple to the preservation of records ; to the extraor- 
dinary environment in which they were placed ; to 
the wonderful rapidity with which the country 
advanced in its development, ever pushing its con- 
fines further and further before the interior could 
be filled in, there are scarcely any written records 
of our life remaining extant. Few letters, journals, 
or accounts have been published or even preserved, 
and the records to which writers have gone for 
their materials are almost exclusively the impres- 
sions of temporary sojourners, who at one time or 
another have passed hastily through our borders, 
generally without either the opportunity or the 
capacity to form other than a hasty or prejudiced 
opinion. 

The Southern civilization was in its character as 

95 



96 THE OLD SOUTH 

distinctive as was that of Greece, Carthage, Eome, 
or Venice. It has had no chronicler to tell its story 
in that spirit of sympathy from which alone can 
come the lights and shadings on which depend 
perspective and real truth. 

It deserves such a recorder, for it produced results 
the consequences of which may never cease. Among 
them is this nation. 

The social life of a people embraces their daily 
life in their homes, with all that relates to their 
social customs and intercourse. It is at once the 
occasion and the reflection of the character of the 
people. Whatever may throw light on these is 
relevant to the subject. 

It is, therefore, pertinent to investigate the 
causes which contributed to any distinctive form 
which that life may have taken, to show that pecul- 
iar form itself, and to touch upon the results it 
produced. 

The structure of that life was, in the first place, 
consequent upon the origin of the people, the man- 
ner in which they were planted here, and the condi- 
tions of their existence ; whilst the continuance of 
the institution of domestic slavery constituted a 
potent force in giving to it its distinctive character. 

The shadow of this institution appears to have 
fallen upon it, and to have prevented a wholly just 
and proper view of its true character. 

But though it is impossible to do more in a 
single paper than simply suggest the outline of the 



LIFE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA 97 

complete picture, yet the attempt will be made tc 
draw that outline in the hope that some abler artist 
may one day give the world the very lines and spirit 
of what is believed by some to have been the sweet- 
est, purest, and most beautiful life ever lived. 

And first, as to its origin. 

Long before any English colony was permanently 
established on these shores, England, in envy of 
Spain, was looking about to assert a claim to a 
part of the new world, the wealth of which was so 
fabulous. 

The first charter to John Cabot, in 1496, confined 
his discoveries to the region north of 44° IS", lati- 
tude, recognizing Spain's right, as fixed by the 
Pope, to all that might lie south of that degree. 
Edward VI., being Protestant, his charter to the 
"merchant adventurers" did not regard these 
bounds. Mary, however, shackled by religious 
bigotry and the influence of Philip, restrained the 
growing enterprise of her subjects, and humbly sub- 
mitting to the Pope's decrees, once more yielded to 
Spain all that country claimed. Elizabeth was of 
different stuff. She flung down the gauntlet. Her 
first parliament vested in her the supremacy claimed 
by the Pope, with all that it implied. Erom this 
time America became the prize between Poman 
Catholicism and Protestantism. In 1562 Admiral 
Coligny attempted to establish a Huguenot colony 
in South Carolina, and two years later he settled 
a small colony in Florida, where most of his colo- 



98 THE OLD SOUTH 

nists were subsequently killed by the Spaniards. 
Captain John Hawkins, under the patronage of the 
Earl of Pembroke, Lord Robert Dudley, Sir William 
Cecil, and other nobles, voyaged to the South and 
made explorations. This Spain would not endure. 
In 1568 Hawkins, then on his third voyage, met 
and had a great sea fight with the Spaniards off 
Vera Cruz, in which he lost three of his ships. He 
was forced to put ashore one hundred and fourteen 
of his men, several of whom marched north along 
the coast. The Spaniards caught most of those 
who remained, sentenced sixty-eight of them to 
the galleys, and burnt three of them, — America's 
first auto dafe. 

Reports of the fabulous wealth of this Southern 
land had spread in England. The merchant adven- 
turers had long been watching the stream of wealth 
pouring through the plate galleons into Spain. 
They had got an act passed extending their privi- 
leges and setting forth their object "for the dis- 
covery of new trades." The prize was coveted by 
others than the merchants, and the new land was 
claimed as "fatally reserved for England." Sir 
Philip Sidney, in the summer of 1584, began to 
take an interest in American enterprises. He was 
interested in Raleigh's voyage, but projected an 
expedition under the command of Sir Francis 
Drake and himself, a scheme which Fulke Greville 
says "was the exactest model Europe ever saw, 
a conquest not to be enterprised but by Sir Philip's 



LIFE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA 99 

reaching spirit that grasped all circumstances and 
interests." 

Elizabeth had taken into her favor a young 
man who even in that adventurous age had dis- 
played extraordinary qualities, a young Devon- 
shire gentleman, described by an old chronicler as 
"of a good presence in a well-compacted body, 
strong, natural wit and better judgment, a bold and 
plausible tongue, the fancy of a poet, and the chiv- 
alry of a soldier." He was cousin to Sir Richard 
Grenville, who brought undying fame to our race 
when with the little Revenge he fought the Spaniard 
at Flores, and he was half-brother to those bold, 
adventurous navigators, Sir Humphrey, Sir John, 
and Sir Adrian Gilbert, who with him did more 
than any other family to wrest this continent from 
Spain and make it an " English nation." Dashing 
soldier as he was, queller of rebellions, patron of 
poets, stout hater and fighter of Spain, "admiral 
and shepherd of the ocean," it was his highest title 
that he was " Lord and Chief Governor of Virginia." 
It is likewise one of Virginia's chief glories that 
she owes her name and her being, at least in its 
peculiar form, to the stout, high-minded, and chi- 
valric soldier, the most picturesque character in 
modern history, — second in his work only to Chris- 
topher Columbus, — Sir Walter Raleigh. 

Although the colonies which Raleigh planted 
perished, his mighty enterprise laid the founda- 
tion for the final establishment of Virginia, and his 



100 THE OLD SOUTH 

spirit fixed its imperishable impress upon the work 
and gave it its distinctive character. He was at 
Oxford when England thrilled with the news of 
Hawkins's third voyage. He left the University to 
fight the Spaniard in the low country. From that 
time Spain was his quarry. He spent his great 
life in wresting America from her hands. He 
awakened in England an interest in the new land 
which never died out; made its holding a matter 
of national pride and national principle; excited 
British pride and religious fervor ; stimulated the 
flagging, awakened public enthusiasm ; aroused the 
Church, and created the spirit which, in spite of 
numberless disasters and repeated failures, finally 
verified his high prophecy to Sir Robert Cecil, 
that he would "live to see Virginia an English 
nation." 

The names of the men who engaged in these 
enterprises are enough to show how the aristocratic 
character became fixed on the Southern settlement. 
The South was settled not merely under the pat- 
ronage of, but largely by, the better class in Eng- 
land. The queen sent Sir Humphrey Gilbert an 
anchor set with jewels, and a message that she 
" wished him as great hap and safety to his ship as 
if she herself were there in person." 

Raleigh's high spirit gave the colony a priceless 
benefaction. He obtained in his charter (of 1584) 
a provision that his colonists should "have all the 
privileges of free denizens and natives of England, 



LIFE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA 101 

and were to be governed according to such statutes 
as should by them be established, so that the said 
statutes or laws conform as conveniently as may 
be with those of England," etc. 

These guaranties were the rock on which the 
American people founded their impregnable claim 
to those rights which are now deemed inherent and 
inalienable. They bore an important part in the 
social as well as the political life of the people. 
They were renewed in the charter of 1606 under 
which the colony came which finally secured in 
Virginia a lasting foothold, and established here 
the rule of the Anglo-Saxon race. They were never 
forgot by the stout adventurers who came to endure 
the hardships of the New World, " leaving their 
bodies in testimonie of their minds." 

They formed the foundation of that pride and in- 
dependence which became so notable a characteristic 
of the social life and gave it its individuality. 

For many years daring young members of the 
great families with their retainers had been going 
abroad, taking service in the low countries, and 
feeding their instinct for adventure. The wars 
were now over ; London was filled with these sol- 
diers, without means and with the wandering habit 
strong on them, brave to recklessness, without 
steady habits of industry, ready for any adventure. 
Filled with the enthusiasm of exploration and col- 
onization, fired by the tales of the Gilberts, of 
Grenville, Hawkins, Gosnold, Stukeley, and others, 



102 THE OLD SOUTH 

the colonizing spirit of the English race found here 
a field ; and Virginia became the El Dorado of the 
British nation. 

Thus Virginia was settled with a strong English 
feeling ingrained in her, with English customs and 
habits of life, with English ideas modified only to 
suit the conditions of existence here. 

Among the chief factors which influenced the Vir- 
ginia life and moulded it in its peculiar form were 
this English feeling (which was almost strong 
enough to be termed a race feeling) ; the aristocratic 
tendency ; the happy combination of soil, climate 
and agricultural product (tobacco), which made 
them an agricultural people, and enabled them to 
support a generous style of living as landed gentry ; 
the Church with its strong organization ; and the 
institution of slavery. 

The fabulous reports of Virginia's wealth, so 
well known that it was travestied upon the stage 
as a land where the pots and pans and the very 
chains that bound the slaves were of gold, and 
jewels of marvellous value were picked up on the 
seashore to adorn the savage children, undoubtedly 
at first induced many adventurers to come to Vir- 
ginia who had no thought of remaining longer than 
was necessary to make fortunes which they pro- 
posed to spend in England. These were followed 
by others who wished not to sever altogether their 
old ties, and for many years life here must have 
been intolerably hard to those accustomed to the 



LIFE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA 103 

pleasant paths of old England. Thus England for 
several generations was to the Virginians " home." 

The commerce with her through the ports of the 
Chesapeake was direct, vessels loading with tobacco 
from the warehouses of the planters on the rivers. 
"Every person may, with ease, procure a small 
plantation, can ship his tobacco at his own door, 
and live independent," says the English traveller 
Burnaby. 

This proved a strong and ever fresh bond, pre- 
serving as it did immediate and constant inter- 
course between the new country and the old. 

The land-holding instinct of the people displayed 
itself from the first, and they settled large planta- 
tions along the rivers, where the fertility of the soil 
enabled them to raise tobacco, and the waterways 
afforded them means to ship. Here they set up 
establishments as nearly like those of the landed 
gentry of England as the conditions of the new 
land admitted. 

The existence of African slaves brought in by 
Dutch, English, and New England traders, and the 
exportation from England of persons who were 
sold as indented servants, enabled the Virginians 
to cultivate their lands, and gave them the means 
to support their pretensions as a landed gentry. 
The institution of slavery was a potent factor. In 
the beginning it was slow in its growth. 

The first cargo were but 20, who were brought in 
a Dutch ship, which put into Hampton Koads in 



104 THE OLD SOUTH 

1619. In 1749 there were but 300 in the colony. 
The first American slaver, The Desire, had, how- 
ever, been fitted out at Salem in 1636, and others 
followed, and in 1670 there were 2000 negroes in 
the colony ; in 1714 there were but 23,000, and in 
1756, 120,000, 52,000 more being in the other colo- 
nies, including New England. 

The existence of slaves emphasized the class dis- 
tinction and created a system of castes, making the 
social system of Virginia as strongly aristocratic as 
that in England. 

The law itself recognized the distinction of class. 
" Such persons of quality," says an act of 1835-36, 
" as shall be found delinquent in their duties, being 
not fitt to undergoe corporal punishment, may not- 
withstanding be ymprisoned at the discretion of ye 
commander." The governor was empowered to 
" presse men of the ordinary sort " to work on the 
State House, paying of course proper wages in 
tobacco. 

There were no titles save the " Honourables " of 
the counsellors, the "Esquires," and the "Colo- 
nels," who commanded in the various counties. 

Titles could have added nothing to their distinc- 
tion. They erected their brick mansions on the 
hills above the rivers, flanked by their offices and 
out-buildings, placed their negro quarters conven- 
iently behind them, and ruled in a system as ma- 
norial as that in the old country. 

The royal governors aided this aristocratic ten- 



LIFE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA 105 

dency. Many of them were men of rank at home, 
and when they came over they set up in the Prov- 
ince a court as nearly vice-regal as their circum- 
stances admitted. The House of Burgesses was 
like the House of Commons, and was composed of 
men of any class. The King's Council of twelve 
having the powers of a general court, besides pos- 
sessing certain executive powers, was appointed, 
and came insensibly to be a "miniature House of 
Lords," untitled and not hereditary it is true, but 
yet practically controlled by the great planter 
families. 

The English system of primogeniture and of 
eutail prevailed in as rigid a form as in the old 
country. The fostering sympathy of the Church 
bore its fruit ; and the established Church at home 
became naturally the established Church in Vir- 
ginia, a law being passed by the General Assembly 
(1624-32) that the colony is to conform "both in 
canons and constitution to the Church of England, 
as near as may be." "They made many laws 
against the Puritans, though they were free from 
them," writes the Rev. Hugh Jones in his " Pres- 
ent State of Virginia," p. 23. Both " Papists " and 
"Puritans" were dealt with vigorously, being 
driven out either to Maryland or New England ; 
and non-conformists were held to strict compliance 
with the law. 

Undoubtedly many, both at first and later on, 
came to Virginia who were not of gentle birth ; but 



106 THE OLD SOUTH 

the lines were too clearly drawn to admit of con- 
fusion ; those who possessed the personal force 
requisite, rose and were absorbed into the upper 
class ; but the great body of them remained a elass 
distinct from this. In the contest between Charles 
I. and his Parliament, the people of Virginia, fol- 
lowing their instincts, at the final rupture sided 
overwhelmingly with the king, and Virginia had 
become so well recognized as an aristocratic coun- 
try that after the failure of the Royalist arms, 
there was a notable emigration of followers of the 
king to the colony, which, under the stout old 
Cavalier governor, Sir William Berkeley, had been 
unswerving in its loyalty. When the king was 
beheaded, the House of Burgesses gave expression 
to the general horror. One of the first acts, if not 
the very first, speaks of him as "The late, most 
excellent, and now undoubtedly sainted King," and 
provides that " what person soever shall go about 
to defend or maintain the late traitorous proceed- 
ings against the aforesaid King of most happy 
memory shall be adjudged an accessory, post-fac- 
tum to the death of the aforesaid King, and shall 
be proceeded against for the same, according to the 
known laws of England." 

Holding true to the crown the Virginians, when 
Charles II. was a fugitive in Holland, sent commis- 
sioners to offer him an unlapsed kingdom beyond 
the seas, and, according to Jones, she was the last 
to acknowledge Cromwell and the first to proclaim 



LIFE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA 107 

king Charles II. even before the Eestoration ("Pres- 
ent State of Virginia," p. 23). 

Yet there was that in the Virginians which dis- 
tinguished them, for all their aristocratic preten- 
sions, from their British cousins. Grafted on the 
aristocratic instinct was a jealous watchfulness of 
their liberties, a guardfulness of their rights, which 
developed into a sterling republicanism, notwith- 
standing the aristocratic instinct. The standard 
was not birth nor family connection; it was one 
based on individual attainment. 

Sir Walter Kaleigh had obtained a guarantee of 
British rights in his charter. Sir Francis Wyatt 
had brought over in 1622 a charter with an exten- 
sion of these rights. The General Assembly, con- 
vened in 1619 when there were only eleven boroughs, 
jealously guarded their liberties. They refused to 
give their records for inspection to the royal com- 
missioners, and when their clerk disobeyed them 
and gave them up, they cut off one of his ears and 
put him in the pillory. They passed statutes limit- 
ing the power of the governor to lay taxes only 
through the General Assembly. 

When Charles I., for whom they were ready to 
vote or fight, claimed a monopoly of the tobacco 
trade, the loyal people of Virginia protested with a 
vigor which brought him to a stand ; when Cromwell 
sent his governor, they deposed him and immedi- 
ately re-elected him that he might act only by their 
authority. They offered Charles II. a kingdom ; 



108 THE OLD SOUTH 

but when he granted the Northern Neck to Culpepper 
and Arlington they grew ready for revolution. 

Many of the best known of the older families 
of Virginia are descended from royalist refugees. 

On the Eestoration some of the adherents of the 
Commonwealth, finding England too hot for them, 
came over ; but they were held in no very high gen- 
eral esteem, and the old order continued to prevail. 

The spirit of the colony will appear from the 
following act, which was adopted 18th March, 
1660-61 : " Whereas our late surrender and submis- 
sion to that execrable power, that soe bloodyly 
massacred the late King Charles I. of blessed [in 
a revision is added, " and glorious "] memory, hath 
made us, by acknowledging them guilty of their 
crimes, to show our serious and hearty repentance 
and detestation of that barbarous act, Bee itt en- 
acted that the 30th of January, the day the said 
King was beheaded, be annually solemnized with 
fasting and prayers that our sorrowes may expiate 
our crime and our teares wash away our guilt" 
(Hen. Vol. 11, p. 24). 

As the eighteenth century passed, the settlement 
pushed further and further westward. A new ele- 
ment came in by way of the upper valley of Vir- 
ginia, stout Scotch-Irish Presbyterian settlers, from 
Scotland first, and then from Ireland, with the 
colonizing spirit strong in them ; simple in their 
life, stern in their faith, dauntless in their courage, 
a race to found and to hold new lands against all 



LIFE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA 109 

comers or claimants ; a race whose spirit was 
more potent than the line of forts with which the 
French attempted to hem them in along the Belle 
Riviere. They founded a new colony looking to the 
West and the new land, as the old planter settlers 
towards the sea looked to the East and the old. 

Burnaby, the traveller already quoted, paid a 
visit to the valley in which they had first made 
their home. " I could not but reflect with pleasure 
on the situation of these people," says he, " and 
think if there is such a thing as happiness in this 
life that they enjoy it. Far from the bustle of the 
world, they live in the most delightful climate and 
richest soil imaginable; they are everywhere sur- 
rounded with beautiful prospects and sylvan scenes ; 
lofty mountains, transparent streams, falls of water, 
rich valleys, and majestic woods ; the whole inter- 
spersed with an infinite variety of flowering shrubs, 
constitute the landscape surrounding them. . . . 
They live in perfect liberty, they are ignorant of 
want and acquainted with but few vices. . . . 
They possess what many princes would give half 
their dominions for, health, content, and tranquil- 
lity of mind." 

Now and then the lines crossed, and, with inter- 
course, gradually the aristocratic tendency of the 
seaboard and Piedmont became grafted into the 
patriarchal system of the valley, distinctly color- 
ing it, though the absence of slaves in numbers 
softened the lines marking the class-distinctions. 



110 THE OLD SOUTH 

The lands were sometimes held on a feudal ten- 
ure. William Byrd held and let his lands at the 
Falls of James on a feudal tenure. 

" And he shall become bound and obliged," runs 
the grant, " to seat the whole number of fifty able 
men armed and constantly furnished with sufficient 
ammunition and provisions together with such 
number of tithable persons, not exceeding 250 in 
the whole on both sides of said Biver," etc. 

On this spot now stands Eichmond, which in the 
great civil war was for four years the point of 
attack by the Northern armies. 

A similar grant on the Eappahannock Biver was 
made to Lawrence Smith, and was offered to any 
other persons at, or near, the heads of any other of 
the great rivers, on condition of their placing there 
military forces and other persons " for the protec- 
tion of his Majesty's country against our barba- 
rous enemy, the Indians." 

Indeed, the wealthy planter families from the 
rivers, holding their places in council generation 
after generation, and ever spreading out more and 
more, maintained a system as nearly a copy of that 
in England when they came over, as the condi- 
tions of the new land admitted. 

The royal governor occupied, in the capital city, 
a mansion called the "Palace," and during the 
sessions of the Assembly the gentle-folk of the col- 
ony assembled at Williamsburg, and "the season" 
was celebrated as distinctly as it was in London 
during the sitting of Parliament. 



LIFE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA 111 

Here is a picture of the capital : " There is one 
handsome street in it, just a mile in length, with 
the capitol on one side of the street ; and the 
college of William and Mary, an old monastic 
structure, at the other end. About the middle 
between them on the north side, a little distance 
retired from the street, stands the palace, the resi- 
dence of the governor; a large, commodious and 
handsome building." 

"Here dwell several good families," says the 
Eev. Hugh Jones, who had lived among them, 
"and more reeide here in their own houses at 
public times. They live in the same neat manner, 
dress after the same modes, and behave themselves 
exactly as the gentry in London. Most families of 
any note having a coach, chariot, berlin, or chaise." 

The people being almost universally agricultural, 
and there being no cities and no great difference of 
interests, the structure of society was naturally 
simple. 

The African slaves formed by position and race 
the lowest stratum. Next to them were the indented 
servants, and the lowest class of whites, composed 
of indented servants and the worst element of the 
transported whites, called in Virginia " jail birds," 
who were shipped from the cities of England, and 
who although as absolutely under the dominion of 
their masters during the period of servitude as the 
slaves themselves, yet in virtue of their race poten- 
tiality had rights denied to the slaves, and possessed 



112 THE OLD SOUTH 

the future, if not the present. Next were the small 
farmers and new-comers of modest means, who were 
continually increasing in numbers and who were 
ever striving to rise, and some of them success- 
fully, in the social scale. Finally, over all was the 
upper class : the large planters and shippers, who 
owned extensive lands and many slaves ; lived in 
the style of country gentlemen of means; jealously 
guarded their privileges, and as counsellors, com- 
missioners, and colonels managed the colony as if 
it had been their private estate. 

"There is a greater distinction supported be- 
tween the different classes of life here than perhaps 
in any of the rest of the colonies," says the Eng- 
lish traveller, Smythe, "nor does that spirit of 
equality and levelling principle which pervades 
the greater part of America prevail to such an 
extent in Virginia. 

" However, there appear to be but three degrees 
of rank amongst all the inhabitants exclusive of 
the negroes. 

• "The first consists of gentlemen of the best 
families and fortunes of the colony, who are here 
much more respectable and numerous than in any 
other province in America. These, in general, have 
had a liberal education, possess enlightened under- 
standings, and a thorough knowledge of the world, 
that furnishes them with an ease and freedom of 
manners and conversation highly to their advan- 
tage in exterior, which no vicissitude of fortune or 



LIFE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA 113 

place can divest them of ; they being actually, 
according to my ideas, the most agreeable and best 
companions, friends, and neighbors that need be 
desired. 

"The greater number of them keep their car- 
riages and have handsome services of plate ; but 
they all without exception have studs, as well as 
sets of elegant and beautiful horses. 

" Those of the second degree in rank are very 
numerous, being perhaps half the inhabitants, and 
consist of such a variety, singularity, and mixture 
of characters that the exact general criterion and 
leading feature can scarcely be ascertained. 

" However, they are generous, friendly, and hos- 
pitable in the extreme; but mixed with such an 
appearance of rudeness, ferocity, and haughtiness, 
which is in fact only a want of polish, occasioned 
by their deficiencies in education and a knowledge 
of mankind, as well as by their general intercourse 
with slaves." 

Many of these possessed fortunes superior to 
some of the first rank, " but " says Smythe, " their 
families are not so ancient nor respectable ; a cir- 
cumstance here held in some estimation. 

"They are all," he adds, "excessively attached 
to every species of sport, gaming, and dissipation, 
particularly horse-racing, and that most barbarous 
of all diversions, that peculiar species of cruelty, 
cock-fighting. . . . 

"Numbers of them are truly valuable members of 



114 THE OLD SOUTH 

society, and few or none deficient in the excellen- 
cies of the intellectual faculties, and a natural 
genius which though in a great measure unim- 
proved, is generally bright and splendid in an un- 
common degree. 

"The third, or lower class of the people (who 
ever compose the bulk of mankind), are in Virginia 
more few in number in proportion to the rest of 
the inhabitants than perhaps in any other country 
in the Universe. Even these are kind, hospitable, 
and generous ; yet illiberal, noisy, and rude. They 
are much addicted to inebriety, and averse to 
labor. 

"They are likewise overburdened with an im- 
pertinent and insuperable curiosity, that renders 
them peculiarly disagreeable and troublesome to 
strangers.'-' 

This is a strong indictment against "the third 
or lower class " to whom it is confined in Virginia, 
but our traveller seems not to have found this pecul- 
iar to the Virginia poor whites, for he immediately 
adds : 

"Yet these undesirable qualities they possess 
by no means in an equal degree with the gener- 
ality of the inhabitants of New England, whose re- 
ligion and government have encouraged, and indeed 
instituted and established, a kind of inquisition of 
forward impertinence and prying intrusion against 
every person that may be compelled to pass through 
that troublesome, illiberal country ; from which 



LIFE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA 115 

description, however, there are no doubt many 
exceptions." 

On the whole, this is apparently not an inaccu- 
rate analysis of the character of the good people of 
Virginia at that time, as they lived their easy, 
contented, careless lives on their plantations or 
farms, in their orchard-embowered homes. The 
slaves were multiplying rapidly. The laws de- 
vised to regulate them may appear to this humani- 
tarian generation very harsh, but most of them were 
savages fresh from the wilds of Africa; and, at least, 
the laws were no severer than those enacted in 
Massachusetts and other colonies. In practical 
operation this severity was tempered by the friend- 
liness which sprang up between the slaves and 
their masters, the relation between them invariably 
becoming a sort of feudal one, and the slaves living 
happy and contented lives. This appears to have 
been a continual puzzle to the outsiders who 
visited the colony. Smythe, the same traveller 
quoted, after speaking with astonishment of the 
laws provided for their regulation, and expressing 
great commiseration over their condition, declares : 

"Yet notwithstanding this degraded situation, 
and rigid severity to which fate has subjected this 
wretched race, they are certainly devoid of care, and 
actually appear jovial, contented, and happy." 

He can scarcely credit his senses ; he records 
with astonishment the fact that after the "severe 
labor" which he asserts continues for "some 



116 THE OLD SOUTH 

hours " after dusk, " instead of retiring to rest as 
might naturally be concluded he would be glad to 
do, he generally sets out from home, and walks six 
or seven miles in the night, be the weather ever so 
sultry, to a negroe dance in which he performs with 
astonishing agility, and the most vigorous exer= 
tions, keeping time and cadence most exactly, with 
the music of the banjor, a large hollow instru- 
ment with three strings, and a quaqua (somewhat 
resembling a drum), until he exhausts himself, 
and has scarcely time or strength to return home 
before the time he is called forth to toil next 
morning." 

All his pity for the negroes, however, did not 
prevent his purchasing one for forty pounds, along 
with two horses to continue his journey to North 
Carolina. In view of his abhorrence of slavery, it 
would be interesting to know what became of this 
boy afterwards. 

Slavery in any form shocks the sensibilities of 
this age ; but surely this banjo-playing life was not 
so dreadful a lot for those just rescued from the 
cannibalism of the Congo. 

The relation between the poor whites and the 
upper classes was not so intimate as that between 
the slaves and their masters, and the former lived 
very much as the lower peasantry do in all coun- 
tries, standing somewhat in the relation of retain- 
ers of or dependents on the planter class. 

The distinction between the middle class, or small 



LIFE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA 117 

farmers, and the wealthier planters was very clearly- 
marked up to the Kevolution, at which time the 
diffusion of the planter families had greatly in- 
creased the number of lesser planters of good 
family connection, and the common defence of 
the country opened the path of distinction to all, 
irrespective of social station. 

The planters lived in a style patterned on that 
of the landed gentry in England, maintaining large 
establishments on their plantations, surrounded by 
slaves and servants, dispensing a prodigal hospital- 
ity, wearing silks and velvets imported from abroad, 
expending their incomes, and often more than their 
incomes, engaging in horse-racing and other gentle 
diversions, and generally arrogating to themselves 
all the privileges of an exclusive upper class. " At 
the governor's house upon birth nights and at 
balls and assemblies," says the Eev. Hugh Jones 
in his " Present State of Virginia," " I have seen as 
fine an appearance, as good diversion, and as splen- 
did entertainment in Governor Spots wood's time as 
I have seen anywhere else." 

They built churches, reserving pews in the chan- 
cels or galleries like the Lords of the Manors in Eng- 
land. The Carters built a church at Corotoman, and 
the congregation waited respectfully outside till the 
family arrived and entered, when they followed them 
in. The Wormleys, the Gryineses, the Churchills, 
and the Berkeleys built an addition to the church 
in Middlesex for their exclusive use. Mr. Matthew 



118 THE OLD SOUTH 

Kemp, as church warden, received the commenda- 
tion of the vestry in the same county for displac* 
ing an unworthy woman who insisted on taking a 
pew above her degree. 

One old grand dame at her death had herself 
buried under the transept used by the poor, that 
in punishment for her pride they might trample 
upon her grave. 

The mansions of this class were generally set 
back in groves of forest trees upon the heights 
overlooking the rivers, and were heavy and roomy 
brick structures flanked by "offices." They were 
substantial rather than showy, though their very 
simplicity was often impressive. Many specimens 
of the kind still remain, though in a state of sad 
decay, on the James, the York, and the Rappahan- 
nock rivers. The houses of the middle classes were 
generally of wood. 

Here are bits of description from Smythe's 
" Travels." 

" On the 6th," he says, " the ship weighed anchor 
and proceeded up James River. . . . After pass- 
ing a great number of most charming situations on 
each side of this beautiful river, we came to anchor. 

"The principal situations that commanded my 
notice and admiration were Shirley Hundred, a 
seat of Charles Carter, Esq., at present in the occu- 
pation of Mr. Bowler Cock; this is, indeed, a 
charming place ; the buildings are of brick, large, 
convenient, and expensive, but now falling to de- 



LIFE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA 119 

cay; they were erected at a great charge by Mr. 
Carter's father, who was secretary of the colony, 
and this was his favorite seat of residence. The 
present proprietor has a most opulent fortune, and 
possesses such a variety of seats in situations so 
extremely delightful, that he overlooks this sweet 
one of Shirley and suffers it to fall into ruin, 
although the buildings must have cost an immense 
sum in constructing, and would certainly be expen- 
sive to keep in repair." Arrived at the Falls where 
now stands Richmond, then a collection of small vil- 
lages, he, after speaking of its situation, bursts forth, 
filled with admiration at the beauty of the land: 

"Whilst the mind is filled with astonishment 
and novel objects, all the senses are gratified. 

"The flowering shrubs which overspread the 
land regale the smell with odoriferous perfumes ; 
and fruits of exquisite relish and flavor delight the 
taste and afford a most grateful refreshment." 

As the tide of settlement rolled westward, sim- 
ple wooden houses were often built by the slaves, 
of timber, cut and sawed by hand upon the place, 
to which wings were added for convenience, as the 
family increased. There was not generally much 
display in the buildings themselves, the extrava- 
gance being reserved for the cheer dispensed within. 
The furniture, however, was often elaborate and 
handsome, being imported from England, and gen- 
erally of the finest wood, such as mahogany and 
rosewood. Chariots and four were the ordinary 



120 THE OLD SOUTH 

mode of travel, the difficulties of country roads 
giving the gentry a reasonable excuse for gratify- 
ing their pride in this respect. 

Their love of fine horses very early displayed 
itself, and laws were enacted at an early time for 
improving the strain of their blood in Virginia. 
"They are such lovers of riding," says the Rev. 
Mr. Jones, in his "Present State of Virginia," 
"that almost every ordinary person keeps a 
horse, and I have known some spend the morning 
in ranging several miles in the woods to find and 
catch their horses only to ride two or three miles 
to church, to the court-house, or to a horse-race." 

"The horses are fleet and beautiful," says Bur- 
naby, "and the gentlemen of Virginia, who are 
exceedingly fond of horse-racing, have spared no 
expense or trouble to improve the breed of these 
by importing great numbers from England." 

Each spring and fall there were races at Wil- 
liamsburg, where two, three, and four mile heats 
were run for purses as high as a hundred pounds, 
besides matches and sweepstakes for considerable 
sums, " the inhabitants almost to a man being quite 
devoted to the diversion of horse-racing." " Very 
capital horses are started here," says the traveller 
Smythe, " such as would make no despicable figure 
at Newmarket ; nor is their speed, bottom, or blood 
inferior to their appearance, the gentlemen of Vir- 
ginia sparing no pains, trouble, or expense in im- 
porting the best stock and improving the excellence 



LIFE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA 121 

of the breed by proper and judicious crossing. 
Indeed nothing can be more elegant and beautiful 
than the horses bred here, either for the turf, the 
field, the road, or the coach." 

" Virginians," he adds, " of all ranks and denom- 
inations are excessively fond of horses and espe- 
cially those of the race breed. The gentlemen of 
fortune expend great sums on their studs, generally 
keeping handsome carriages and several sets of 
horses, as well as others for the race and road ; 
even the most indigent person has his saddle horse 
which he rides to every place and on every occasion ; 
for in this country nobody walks on foot the small- 
est distance except when hunting." He, too, ob- 
serves that " a man will frequently go five miles to 
catch a horse, to ride only one mile upon after- 
wards." 

The traveller knew something of Virginia life. 

The Rev. Andrew Burnaby, rector of Greenwich, 
where he confines himself to what he saw, is 
picturesque and reliable ; when he does not, he 
is simply picturesque. Virginians struck him 
as "indolent, easy, and good-natured, extremely 
fond of society, and much given to convivial pleas- 
ures." In consequence of this, charges Burnaby, 
"they seldom show any spirit of enterprise or 
expose themselves to fatigue." They were, he 
thought, " vain and imperious and entire strangers 
to that elegance of sentiment which is so peculiarly 
characteristic of refined and polished nations." He 



122 THE OLD SOUTH 

has the grace to admit that " general characters are 
always liable to many exceptions. In Virginia I 
have had the pleasure to know several gentlemen 
adorned with many virtues and accomplishments 
to whom the following description is by no means 
applicable." 

As to this absence of refined feeling, we shall see 
presently. 

" The public or political character of the Vir- 
ginians," he says, "corresponds with their private 
one ; they are haughty and jealous of their liber- 
ties, impatient of restraint, and can scarcely bear 
the thought of being controlled by any superior 
power. Many of them consider the colonies as inde- 
pendent States, not connected with Great Britain, 
otherwise than by having the same common King, 
and being bound to her with natural affection." 

Perhaps this independence was not agreeable to 
the reverend rector of Greenwich's loyal instincts. 

He was not so accurate in his observations on the 
private character of the Virginians as on their polit- 
ical. He noted that they never refuse any necessary 
supplies for the support of the government when 
called upon, and are a generous and loyal people. 

Here is what he says of the Virginia women: 
" The women are, upon the whole, rather handsome, 
but not to be compared with our fair countrywomen 
in England. [He was writing for publication in 
England.] They have but few advantages and con- 
sequently are seldom accomplished; this makes 



LIFE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA 123 

them reserved and unequal to any interesting and 
refined conversation. They are immoderately fond 
of dancing, and indeed it is almost the only amuse- 
ment they partake of." He then describes the 
country dances and "jijjs" they dance, which may 
give an idea of the society in which he generally 
moved. 

(The Eev. Hugh Jones in his "Present State of 
Virginia" sufficiently discriminates the two classes 
of society with their diversions to show that al- 
though the English traveller mentioned may have 
occasionally been entertained at a gentleman's 
house, yet the people whom he described belonged 
unquestionably to the second class.) 

"The Virginia ladies," he proceeds, "excepting 
these amusements and now and then a party of 
pleasure into the woods to partake of a barbecue, 
chiefly spend their time in sewing and taking care 
of their families. They seldom read or endeavor 
to improve their minds ; however, they are in gen- 
eral good housewives, and though they have not, I 
think, quite as much tenderness and sensibility as 
the English ladies, yet they make as good wives 
and as good mothers as any in the world." 

It is surprising that he should have passed so 
general a stricture on the lack of enterprise of the 
Virginians, for he records the famous feat of Wash- 
ington in going with a single companion to the 
" Ohio Eiver " with letters to the French com- 
mander, M. St. Pierre, in 1753, but a few years 



124 THE OLD SOUTH 

before, and. he certainly did not underestimate the 
act. 

The distance was more than four hundred miles, 
two hundred of which lay through a trackless forest 
inhabited by treacherous and merciless savages, and 
the season was unusually severe. 

It was less than fifteen years after this that these 
Virginians, with a mightiness of enterprise which 
must have shaken the reverend traveller's confi- 
dence in his judgment, helped to build a nation and 
tear from England the richest possession any coun- 
try ever owned. 

The hospitality of the good people of the colony 
early became noted, and its exercise was so un- 
stinted, so universal, so cordial, that it has acquired 
for itself the honor of a special designation, and, 
the world over, has set the standard as " Virginia 
hospitality." 

" They shall be reputed to entertain those of 
curtesie with whom they make not a certaine 
agreement," says the old Statute of 1661-62 (Hen. 
1661-62, 1667). 

Here is what the traveller Smythe says of his 
experience in this regard : " The Virginians are 
generous, extremely hospitable, and possess very 
liberal sentiments. ... To communicate an idea 
of the general hospitality that prevails in Virginia, 
and, indeed, throughout all the Southern provinces, 
it may not be improper to represent some peculiar 
customs that are universal ; for instance : 



LIFE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA 125 

" If a traveller, even a negro, observes an orchard 
full of fine fruit, either apples or peaches, in or near 
his way, he alights without ceremony, and fills - his 
pockets, or even a bag, if he has one, without asking 
permission ; and if the proprietor should see him, he 
is not in the least offended, but makes him perfectly 
welcome, and assists him in choosing out the finest 
fruit." He explains that this was not to be won- 
dered at as fruit was so plentiful that peaches were 
fed to the hogs ; and proceeds : " When a person of 
more genteel figure than common calls at an ordi- 
nary (the name of their inns), for refreshment 
and lodging for a night, as soon as any of the gen- 
tlemen of fortune in the neighborhood hears of it, 
he either comes for him himself, or sends him a polite 
and pressing invitation to his home, where he meets 
with entertainment and accommodation infinitely 
superior in every respect to what he could have 
received at the inn. If he should happen to be 
fatigued with travelling, he is treated in the most 
hospitable and genteel manner, and his servants 
and horses also fare plenteously, for as long a time 
as he chooses to stay. All this is done with the 
best grace imaginable, without even a hint being 
thrown out of a curiosity or wish to know his 
name." 

Are these the people that Parson Burnaby says 
are " entire strangers to that elegance of sentiment 
which is so peculiarly characteristic of refined and 
polished nations " ? 



126 THE OLD SOUTH 

, If you would hare a picture of a country family 
of that time, here. is one by the Chevalier de Chas- 
tellux who was a Major-General under Rochambeau 
in the Eevolutionary Army, and who wrote an ac- 
count of his travels in Virginia in 1780-82. He 
relates a visit he paid General Nelson's family 
at Offiey, an unpretentious country place in Han- 
over County. He says : 

" In the absence of the General (who had gone 
to Williamsburg) his mother and wife received us 
with all the politeness, ease, and cordiality natural 
to his family. But, as in America, the ladies are 
never thought sufficient to do the honors of the 
house, five or six Nelsons were assembled to receive 
us, among others : Secretary Nelson, uncle to the 
General, his two sons, and two of the General's 
brothers. These young men were married, and 
several of them were accompanied by their wives 
and children, and distinguished only by their Chris- 
tian names ; so that during the two days which I 
spent in this truly patriarchal house, it was impos- 
sible for me to find out their degrees of relationship. 
The company assembled either in the parlor or 
saloon, especially the men, from the hour of break- 
fast to that of bed-time ; but the conversation was 
always agreeable and well supported. If you were 
desirous of diversifying the scene, there were some 
good French and English authors at hand. An ex- 
cellent breakfast at nine o'clock, a sumptuous dinner 
at two, tea and punch in the afternoon, and an ele- 



LIFE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA 127 

gant little supper divided the day most happily for 
those whose stomachs were never unprepared. It 
is worth observing that on this occasion, where fif- 
teen or twenty people (four of whom were strangers 
to the family and the country) were assembled 
together, and by bad weather forced to stay often 
in doors, not a syllable was said about play. How 
many parties of trictrac, whist, and lotto would 
with us have been the consequence of such obstinate 
bad weather ! " (Chastellux's "Travels.") 

The observations of the Chevalier de Chastellux 
sufficiently contradict the charge of the Greenwich 
preacher that Virginia ladies were " unequal to any 
interesting or refined conversation." 

Colonel Byrd, with his inimitable drollery, fur- 
nishes us bits of description from which we get pic- 
tures of almost every rank of Virginia life in his 
time, 1732 (" Journey to the Mines "). He shows us 
the scolding overseer's wife ; the widow expectant 
of a lover with " an air becoming to a weed " ; 
the spinster "bewailing her virginity and expend- 
ing her affections upon her dog " ; the wife push- 
ing on against all remonstrance through weather 
and mud to join her husband in the new settle- 
ment in Goochland ; the family group at Tuck- 
ahoe listening to the "Beggar's Opera" read 
aloud; we get the tragical story "of the young 
gentlewoman's marriage with her uncle's overseer," 
with the Colonel's reflection that "had she run 
away with a gentleman or a pretty fellow there 



128 THE OLD SOUTH 

might have been some excuse for her, though he 
were of inferior fortune, but to stoop to a dirty 
plebeian without any kind of merit is the lowest 
prostitution " ; we see the elegant home of Colonel 
Spotswood at Germana, surrounded by its garden 
and terraced walks, the tame deer coming into the 
house, smashing the pier glass, knocking over the 
tea-table, and committing havoc with the china, 
and giving Mrs. Spotswood the opportunity to show 
her calm and beautiful temper; the gentlemen 
walking in the garden discussing iron manufacture 
and politics; the ladies taking the visitor to see 
their " small animals," their fowls ; the rides about 
the woods ; the fine appetites and capital cheer. It 
is a pleasant picture. 

As we come down the century the prospect sim- 
ply widens; the gentry live upon their great es- 
tates, working their tobacco, managing their slaves 
and the affairs of the colony; breeding their fine 
horses, and racing them in good old English style ; 
asserting and maintaining their privileges ; dispens- 
ing a lavish and lordly hospitality; visiting and 
receiving visits ; marrying and giving in marriage ; 
their wives rolling about in their coaches and four, 
dressed in satins and brocades brought in their own 
ships from London ; their daughters in fine raiment, 
often made by their own fair hands (" Journal of a 
Young Lady of Virginia"), dancing, reading, and 
marrying; vying with their husbands and lovers in 
patriotism ; sealing up their tea, and giving up all 



LIFE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA 129 

silk from England except for hats and bonnets (a 
charming touch) ; their sons going to William and 
Mary or across to Oxford or Cambridge, and grow- 
ing up like their sires, gay, pleasure-loving, winning 
and losing garters on wagers, jealous of privilege, 
proud, assertive of their rights, ready to fight and 
stake all on a point of principle, and forming that 
society which was the virile soil from which sprang 
this nation. 

Here is an " Inventory of Wedding Clothes " of 
one of the daughters of the Nelson House, at 
Yorktown : 

A fashionable Lushing Sacque and Coat, 

A rose white Satin Sacque and Coat, 

A fine suit of Mechlin lace, 

A fashionable Lushing gown, 

A white Sattin Capuchin and bonnet, 

A white Sattin quilted petticoat, 

One piece of purple and white linen, 

One piece of dark brown cotton, 

One piece of fine corded dimity, 

One piece of Cambrick, One piece ditto colored, 

Six fine lawn handkerchiefs with striped borders, 

Two fine sprigged lawn aprons, 

Six pair Greshams, black Calamanca pumps, 

Two pair green leather, two pair purple leather pumps, 

One pair ditto white Sattin, one pair ditto pink, 

One ditto white Sattin embroidered, 

One dozen pair women's best woolen stockings, 

Two pair ditto white silk, 

One dozen women's best French gloves, 

One ditto mitts, 



130 THE OLD SOUTH 

One pound pins, one ditto short whites, 

One pair tanned stays, 

One pound of best Scotch thread sorted, 

Six white silk laces, one set of combs, 

A fashionable stomacher and knot, 

Two Ivory stick fans, 

A wax necklace and earrings, 

A pink Sattin quilted petticoat, 

Two fashionable gaus caps, one ditto blonde lace. 

The time-stained record does not state who was 
the fortunate lover of the little lady who wanted 
the " fashionable lushing sacque and coat," and 
other " fashionable " articles ; but I know she 
looked charming in her " white sattin capuchin and 
bonnet," her " rose white sattin sacque and coat," 
and her dainty " white sattin embroidered pumps." 
What pretty feet she must have had to have been 
so careful about her " pumps," — thirteen pair she 
ordered. I wonder whose grandmother she was ! 

No pen could do justice to the fair bride of 
the " white sattin capuchin and bonnet " ; but here 
is a picture of a young gentleman of the period 
drawn by himself and furnished me by a descend- 
ant of the gentleman to whom the letters were 
addressed. The writer is Mr. Peter Randolph, 
of Chatsworth, and the letters are to his friend, 
Mr. Carr. They have never before been published, 
and are worth giving in full. 

Dear Carr : — Your attack upon the barrenness of en- 
tertainment which universally pervades James Eiver, I 
acknowledge to be supported by the strictest justice, . . . 



LIFE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA 131 

Providence never formed a place in which dulness and mel- 
ancholy held such extensive empire as on the once festive 
banks of James River. . . . You mention that you have 
heard I was paying my addresses to J. Randolph. Whoever 
informed you that I was actually laying siege to her too 
well defended castle did not obtain his information from a 
proper source. I confess I most sincerely love her ; but I 
am so apprehensive of a frown from the terrific brows of 
her old mother that I am afraid to venture to Tuckahoe. 
There she is at present and there she will be for some time. 
However, even at the expense of a horsewhipping from the 
old beldame, I must shortly make a commencement, fame 
having so universally spread my intentions that I shall be 
accused of fickleness if I do not proceed. Something tho' 
more powerful than that would urge me to the attack, viz. : 
a most serious and unalterable attachment. But pray, my 
dear friend, where did you obtain your information with 
respect to E. N. and what is the purport of it? Who is 
your author ? By heaven, I still have a sincere regard for 
her ; and tho' fettered by love in another quarter cou'd I 
succeed with her, rather than run the risk of losing either 
priae, I wou'd make an attack upon her who seemed most 
disposed to favour me. I think it wou'd make a curious 
question in morals whether or no love can be at the same 
time real and duplicate ? It wou'd seem curious to support 
the affirmative, but if I can form any idea of the feelings of 
others by myself, if I am not of a mould and composition 
entirely different from the rest of my species, it may be 
supported with success. If I were to be this moment exe- 
cuted I do not know which of these two girls I love most ; 
and yet I declare for each I have a most violent fondness. 
With either of them I know I cou'd be perfectly happy, and 
with either I shou'd of course be content. When J. R. is 
present I think the scale of affection preponderates in her 
favour. When E. N. is with me, I feel a superior fondness 



132 THE OLD SOUTH 

for her, and when both are absent, I cannot determine who 
can justly claim the superiority. Pray write me by the 
next post every thing you have heard relating to E. N. and 
you may depend on the greatest secrecy : also, your author 
that I may be able to judge what credit may be given to his 
report. Remember me to all friends and as usual I am 

Your Friend, Peter Randolph. 

This letter, though without date, must have been 
prior to the one following ; for the writer has evi- 
dently decided to try J. E. and has even braved a 
frown from the terrific brows of the " old beldame," 
her mother. Here is the other : 

July 28th, 1787. 
Dear Carr : — The requisitions of a friend are always to 
me most pleasing •ommands, which whilst they carry with 
them all the force of obedience of which the mandates of an 
Eastern despot can boast, nevertheless convey the most un- 
feigned satisfaction. They are, to be sure, marks of esteem 
and confidence which the man who makes them thinks can no 
where be so properly placed as in the person of whom he so- 
licits the favour. I really tho' was somewhat surprised when 
I found your request of the nature it was. I did not suppose 
there was a man in the world to whom the history of my 
transactions could have afforded the smallest entertainment. 
[" Transactions " is good.] To be sure if originality 
has any right to attention many of my adventures may lay 
claim to it. But the originality was of so peculiar a nature 
that I supposed there were but few who could divine any satis- 
faction from hearing it. However, as I have found you of so 
extraordinary a mould as to wish the trifling satisfaction, as 
you have even particularly requested it, I shall conclude 
you are one of the few to whom the originality of P. R.'s 
original maneuvres are pleasing and interesting and shall 



LIFE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA 133 

therefore give you the whole history. I set out from Chats- 
worth on Monday, accompanied by old Abraham, on my 
way to Tuckahoe, resolved, if possible, to storm the citadel 
in which was contained Miss Judah's virtue and accomplish- 
ments. I first regulated my wardrobe as follows : I laid out 
for my first day's appearance; a thin and genteel riding 
coat and waistcoat, a pair of Nankeen breeches, white stock- 
ings and a beautiful pair of half boots. This you observe 
was for the first day's exhibition when mounted on the 
little roane I appeared at the terrestrial elysium Tuckahoe. 
The next thing on the docket was my red coat, in all its 
pristine effulgence glittering in the sun as if trimmed with 
gold. The black silk breeches which you, Champ, and my- 
self got a pair of ; a nice silk waistcoat and a pair of most 
elegant white silk stockings. For the next, a very elegant 
lead-coloured coat, a pair of Nankeen breeches, and very 
fine cotton stockings, with a most elegant dimmety waist- 
coat. This, sir, was the manner in which my extensive 
wardrobe was to be regulated. At the expiration of these 
three days, as I shou'd have sho'n all my cloaths I imag- 
ined they wou'd be nearly tired of me, I proposed taking 
my departure. But after having reached Richmond, some 
money which I expected to get there cou'd not be obtained. 
I thought it most prudent, therefore, to send old Abraham 
on and follow him in the morning. For you know nothing 
so soon signalizes a man as a fine gentleman, as being able 
to say to one servant, here, my boy, take this dollar for the 
trouble I have given you since my arrival, and to another 
this half dollar and so on. But to proceed with my story. 
When the morning arrived I found it as impossible to obtain 
money as I had done the night before. So I resolved to 
depend altogether on my own merit and go without. As I 
was going on in full tilt, I met Colonel Tom himself, who 
persuaded me much to stay and dine with him that day at 
Pennock's, and take the cool of the evening for it, as it was 



134 THE OLD SOUTH 

then very warm. I for some time hesitated, hut considering 
from whom the request came I resolved to assent. I spent 
a very agreeable day at Pennock's, and the evening coming 
on apace I mounted my horse to go hut had not proceeded 
far before I was stopped by the rain. In this dilemma noth- 
ing cou'd exceed my anxiety. I had sometimes an inclina- 
tion to push thro' the violent storm, let the consequence 
be what it wou'd ; for I was afraid lest old Abraham, who 
had gone up the night before carrying a huge portmanteau 
wou'd give me out and return. My prognostication proved 
too true. Early in the morning on which I intended to set 
out, who shou'd I see pacing into town but the old fellow 
with his portmanteau. Nothing cou'd now exceed my dis- 
tress. I hated not to go, and still feared to set out for 
Tuckahoe. However, I changed my cloaths, dressed very 
genteelly, and resolved to set out unaccompanied by a ser- 
vant. Doctr. Currie happened to be going up to visit Mrs. 
Randolph and we both pushed off together. After an agree- 
able ride we at length reached the house about 2 o'clock, 
just about the time when Miss J.'s beauty was in its merid- 
ian splendor. We found her doing the honours of the table 
with the most ineffable sweetness and grace. She rose as 
we entered to salute us. She rose ! heavens with what an- 
gelic majesty tempered with all that sweetness and modesty 
of which human nature in its most perfect state is capable. 
If, Carr, you have never known the force of beauty. If you 
have been never warmed by the genial influence of love and 
are anxious not to experience its powerful effects until you 
have seen the sun of several years more, you may account 
yourself fortunate that you were not present at this interest- 
ing and commanding moment. The coldest anchorite who 
had not for 20 years before been agitated by the sudden im- 
pulse of any human passion, whose heart was formed of such 
insensible materials that his joy had never curdled at an- 
other's woe, who had not once in his whole life experienced 



LIFE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA 135 

the magic influence of a beautiful woman on the human 
soul, wou'd on this occasion have found that the ice of 
nature was converted into heat, and that he himself was 
re-animated into something more similar to the genius and 
disposition of a son of Adam. As she spoke to me a small 
border of red, occasioned by the blush of ingenuous mod- 
esty, tinged her lovely face, which opposed to the snowy 
whiteness of her skin formed an enchanting spectacle not 
much inferior to that which is exhibited in the eastern sky, 
just at the moment when aurora is about to dispense the 
beams of her effulgence to the whole animate world. For 
my part, I own I was transported with rapture, especially 
as I thought myself the cause of her making so lovely an 
appearance. "What her blushes proceeded from I cannot 
tell, unless it was the eyes of the whole household fixing 
upon us two since every member of the family knew my 
attachment to her and conceived I had come with determi- 
nation to pay my addresses to her. Be that as it may, I sat 
down to dinner but cou'd scarcely swallow a mouthful. My 
hand trembled, my heart palpitated and my eyes too well 
evinced my internal commotion. After dinner we assem- 
bled in the hall where the sweet Judah favored us with a 
good deal of her incomparable musick. She played as if she 
had been inspired by some deity of musick, and tho' excel- 
ling in so peculiar a manner, seemed to do it with a mod- 
esty which appeared to indicate an opinion of her own 
deficiency which few so eminent as herself wou'd have 
thought they possessed. Thus my friend, have I en- 
deavoured as circumstantially as possible to give you an 
account of my visit to the most perfect of her sex. In doing 
this I think I have said enough of her to enable you to form 
a proper idea of her worth. Shou'd you have been unfortu- 
nate enough not to have attained this knowledge, believe me 
when I tell you in plain words ; She is beautiful, sensible, 
affable, polite, good-tempered, agreeable and to crown the 



136 THE OLD SOUTH 

whole, truly calculated both by her virtues and accomplish- 
ments to render any man happy. 

Your friend, Peter S. Randolph. 

[This admirable summing up of his ladylove's 
virtues shows that the young coxcomb was at bot- 
tom a very sensible fellow.] 

N.B. — If I can get the Nankeen for you I will, and 
have it made by Bob who, I assure you, will make it better 
and cheaper than any Taylor down there. Get your meas- 
ure and inclose it to me and the breeches shall be done as 
quick as possible. 

With true wit he gives not a hint of the outcome 
of his expedition. 

After the close of the Eevolution there came a 
period in which the conditions were somewhat 
changed. The rights for which the colonies had 
contended had been recognized ; independence had 
been secured ; success, full and satisfying, had been 
achieved. Much military renown had been won. 
Meantime, the government of the States had been 
formed and established on a basis which satisfied 
the thoughtfulness and high-mindedness of the 
constructers. But all this was not without cost. 

The great fortunes had melted away in the patri- 
otic fervor of the owners. The men who made 
the war and won it paid for it. George Mason had 
found his wish gratified ; he had got the liberty for 
which he had striven, and with it had got also the 
crust of bread with which he had promised to be 



LIFE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA 137 

contented. The wealthiest man in Virginia, Thomas 
Nelson, Jr., who had been the Revolutionary gov- 
ernor of Virginia, and the commander-in-chief of 
her forces, leading them in person, and at Yorktown 
pointing the guns at his own mansion, had pledged 
his entire private fortune for the pay of the troops, 
and had afterwards, in his seat as a Virginia rep- 
resentative, upon a motion to repudiate British 
claims, sworn that others might do as they pleased, 
but as for him, so help him God, he would pay his 
debts like an honest man. This he had done. When 
he died, on one of his outlying places, of exposure 
and overwork, it is tradition that his body was con- 
veyed away in the night and carried to his home to 
avoid the danger of having it seized by rapacious 
creditors. His widow, formerly the wealthiest 
woman in Virginia, was left in her old age with but 
one piece of property, her children's mammy. 
Other fortunes had gone likewise. 

The stern demands of war had welded the dif- 
ferent elements into an extraordinarily homogeneous 
people. The sudden creation of a new government 
which was participated in by all and had done 
away with privilege, had given every one a per- 
sonal interest in the State. At the same time the 
methods of life of those who had been the leaders 
had given the standard, and whether it was in the 
Tidewater or Piedmont, in the valley or beyond 
the mountain, land-holding in considerable quan- 
tity, and planter life in its carelessness and lavish- 
ness, became the style in vogue. 



138 THE OLD SOUTH 

The new order found the Virginian established 
in his habits and exhibiting in his life a distinctive 
civilization with which he was entirely content and 
which he proposed to preserve and transmit to his 
children. 

There was naturally the destruction of the equi- 
poise which always succeeds war ; the impairment 
of values, the change in the relation of things, which 
is the consequence of such a convulsion ; the great 
fortunes went to pieces in the storm and left only 
the debris, to which the owners clung till they, too, 
were swept away by the currents. But if the Vir- 
ginians came out of the war broken in fortune, 
they had gained an accession of spirit. What they 
had lost in wealth they had more than gained in 
pride. The fire of the seven years' struggle had 
tried their metal and proved its quality. The 
glory of the victory was in large part theirs. Their 
sons had behaved with gallantry on every field. 
A Virginian had become the personification of Amer- 
ican valor and success. Victory seemed embodied 
in George Washington. The mighty men were yet 
in the prime of their intellectual vigor ; they had 
sprung suddenly from subjects fighting for their 
rights, to peers owning no superiors, to law-makers 
knowing no laws but those which they framed. If 
they were proud they were likewise great. What 
they did was on a grand scale. To aid the country 
she had preserved ; to establish the United States 
which without her could not have been, the great 



LIFE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA 139 

State changed her government, surrendered her in- 
comparable position, and with a splendid generosity 
which was little appreciated and ill requited, ceded 
her vast transmontane possessions. She continued to 
maintain her prestige. In all public matters her sons 
continued to take the lead. President after presi- 
dent was chosen from among them. Her Marshall 
was selected to preside over the highest tribu- 
nal of the land as chief justice, and by the extraor- 
dinary powers which he displayed at once took 
place amongst the great judges of the world. She 
had already taken her position as the greatest 
colonizer of modern times. Kentucky beyond the 
mountains was really but her western district, set- 
tled by her sons, who had planted there Virginian 
homes and established in them the Virginian faith 
and customs. 

But her sons had also gone elsewhere ; South and 
West they turned their faces, carrying their Vir- 
ginian blood and social life, and planting wherever 
they settled a little Virginian colony which gave 
to that place something of the Virginia spirit. 

A traveller sailing to Virginia, records that when 
two days from the coast, " the air was richly scented 
with the fragrance of the pine trees, wafted to 
them across the sea." In the same way, far beyond 
her borders was felt the Virginian influence sweet- 
etring and purifying the life of the people. 



SOCIAL LIFE IN OLD VIRGINIA 
BEFORE THE WAR 



SOCIAL LIFE IN OLD VIRGINIA 
BEFORE THE WAR 

Let me see if I can describe an old Virginia 
home recalled from a memory stamped with it 
when it was a virgin page. It may, perhaps, be 
idealized by the haze of time ; but it will be as I 
now remember it. 

The house was a plain " weather-board " build- 
ing, one story and a half above the half-basement 
ground floor, set on a hill in a grove of primeval 
oaks and hickories filled in with ash, maples, and 
feathery-leafed locusts without number. It was 
built of timber cut by the "servants" (they were 
never termed slaves except in legal documents ) 
out of the virgin forest, not long after the Kevolu- 
tion, when that branch of the family moved from 
Yorktown. It had quaint dormer windows, with 
small panes, poking out from its sloping upstairs 
rooms, and long porches to shelter its walls from 
the sun and allow house life in the open air. 

A number of magnificent oaks and hickories 
(there had originally been a dozen of the former, 
and the place from them took its name, "Oakland,") 

143 



144 THE OLD SOUTH 

under which Totapottamoi children may have 
played, spread their long arms about it, sheltering 
nearly a half -acre apiece ; while in among them and 
all around were a few ash and maples, an evergreen 
or two, lilacs and syringas and roses, and locusts of 
every age and size, which in springtime filled the 
air with honeyed perfume, and lulled with the 
" murmur of innumerable bees." 

There was an "office" in the yard; another 
house where the boys used to stay, and the right 
to sleep in which was as eagerly looked forward to 
and as highly prized as was by the youth of Rome 
the wearing of the toga virilis. There the guns 
were kept; there the dogs might sleep with their 
masters, under, or occasionally, in cold weather, 
even on, the beds ; and there charming bits of gos- 
sip were retailed by the older young gentlemen, 
and delicious tales of early wickedness related, all 
the more delightful because they were veiled in 
chaste language phrased not merely to meet the 
doctrine, maxima reverentia pueris debetur, but to 
meet the higher truth that no gentleman would use 
foul language. 

Off to one side was the orchard, in springtime 
a bower of pink and snow, and always making a 
pleasant spot in the landscape ; beyond which 
peeped the ample barns and stables. 

The fields that stretched around were poor, and 
in places red " galls " showed through, but the til- 
lage was careful and systematic. At the best, it 



SOCIAL LIFE BEFORE THE WAR 145 

was a boast that a dish, of blackberries could not 
be got on the place. The brown worm fences ran 
in lateral lines across, and the ditches were kept 
clean except for useful willows. 

The furniture was old-timey and plain ; mahog- 
any and rosewood bedsteads and dressers black 
with age, and polished till they shone like mirrors, 
hung with draperies white as snow ; straight-backed 
chairs generations old interspersed with common 
new ones ; long sofas ; old shining tables with slen- 
der, brass-tipped legs, straight or fluted, holding 
some fine old books, and in springtime a blue or 
flowered bowl or two with glorious roses ; book- 
cases filled with brown-backed, much-read books. 
This was all. 

The servants' houses, smoke-house, wash-house, 
and carpenter shop were set around the "back 
yard" with "mammy's house" a little nicer than 
the others ; and farther off, upon and beyond the 
quarters hill, " the quarters " — whitewashed, sub- 
stantial buildings, each for a family, with chicken- 
houses hard by, and with or without yards closed in 
by split palings, filled with fruit trees, which some- 
how bore cherries, peaches, and apples in a myste- 
rious profusion even when the orchard failed. 

The gardens (there were two : the vegetable gar- 
den and the flower garden) were separate. The 
former was the test of the mistress's power ; for 
at the most critical times she took the best hands 
on the place to work it. The latter was the proof 



146 THE OLD SOUTH 

of her taste. It was a strange affair ; pyrocanthus 
hedged it on the outside ; honeysuckle ran riot over 
its palings, perfuming the air ; yellow cowslips in 
well-regulated tufts edged some borders, while 
sweet peas, pinks, and violets spread out recklessly 
over others ; jonquilles yellow as gold, and, once 
planted, blooming every spring as certainly as the 
trees budded or the birds nested, grew in thick 
bunches, and everywhere were tall lilies, white as 
angels' wings and stately as the maidens that walked 
among them; big snowball bushes blooming with 
snow, lilacs purple and white and sweet in the 
spring, and always with birds' nests in them with 
the bluest of eggs ; and in places rosebushes, and 
tall hollyhock stems filled with rich rosettes of 
every hue and shade, made a delicious tangle. In 
the autumn rich dahlias and pungent-odored chrys- 
anthemums closed the season. 

But the flower of all others was the rose. There 
were roses everywhere ; clambering roses over the 
porches and windows, sending their fragrance into 
the rooms ; roses beside the walks ; roses around 
the yard and in the garden ; roses of every hue and 
delicate refinement of perfume ; rich yellow roses 
thick on their briery bushes, coming almost with 
the dandelions and buttercups, before any others 
dared face the April showers to learn if March had 
truly gone, sweet as if they had come from Paradise 
to be worn upon young maidens' bosoms, as they 
might well have done — who knows ? — followed 



SOCIAL LIFE BEFORE THE WAR 147 

by the Giant of Battles on their stout stems, 
glorious enough to have been the worthy badge of 
victorious Lancastrian kings ; white Yorks hardly 
less royal ; cloth-of-golds ; dainty teas ; rich dam- 
asks ; old sweet hundred-leafs sifting down their 
petals on the grass, and always filling with two the 
place where one had fallen. These and many more 
made the air fragrant, while the catbirds and mock- 
ing-birds fluttered and sang among them, and the 
robins foraged in the grass for their yellow-throated 
little ones waiting in the half-hidden nests. 

Looking out over the fields was a scene not to be 
forgotten. Let me give it in the words of one who 
knew and loved Virginia well, and was her best in- 
terpreter — Dr. George W. Bagby. His " Old Vir- 
ginia Gentleman " is perhaps the best sketch yet 
written in the South. To it I am doubtless in- 
debted for much that I say in this paper. His 
description might do for a picture of Staunton 
Hill resting in delicious calm on its eminence above 
the Staunton River. 

"A scene not of enchantment, though contrast 
often made it seem so, met the eye. Wide, very 
wide fields of waving grain, billowy seas of green 
or gold as the season chanced to be, over which 
the scudding shadows chased and played, gladdened 
the heart with wealth far spread. Upon lowlands 
level as the floor the plumed and tasselled corn 
stood tall and dense, rank behind rank in military 
alignment — a serried army lush and strong. The 



148 THE OLD SOUTH 

rich, dark soil of the gently swelling knolls [it was 
not always rich] could scarcely be seen under the 
broad lapping leaves of the mottled tobacco. The 
hills were carpeted with clover. Beneath the tree- 
clumps fat cattle chewed the cud, or peaceful sheep 
reposed, grateful for the shade. In the midst of 
this plenty, half hidden in foliage, over which the 
graceful shafts of the Lombard poplar towered, with 
its bounteous garden and its orchards heavy with 
fruit near at hand, peered the old mansion, white, 
or dusky red, or mellow gray by the storm and 
shine of years. 

"Seen by the tired horseman halting at the 
woodland's edge, this picture, steeped in the in- 
tense quivering summer moonlight, filled the soul 
with unspeakable emotions of beauty, tenderness, 
peace, home. 

" How calm could we rest 
In that bosom of shade with the friends we love best ! 

" Sorrows and care were there — where do they 
not penetrate ? But, oh ! dear God, one day in 
those sweet tranquil homes outweighed a fevered 
lifetime in the gayest cities of the globe. Tell me 
nothing ; I undervalue naught that man's heart de- 
lights in. I dearly love operas and great pageants ; 
but I do know — as I know nothing else — that 
the first years of human life, and the last, yea, if it 
be possible, all the years, should be passed in the 
country. The towns may do for a day, a week, a 



SOCIAL LIFE BEFORE THE WAR 149 

month at most ; but Nature, Mother Nature, pure 
and clean, is for all time ; yes, for eternity itself." 

The life about the place was amazing. There 
were the busy children playing in troops, the boys 
mixed up with the little darkies as freely as any 
other young animals, and fcrming the associations 
which tempered slavery and made the relation one 
of friendship. There they were stooping down 
and jumping up ; turning and twisting their heads 
close together, like chickens over an "invisible 
repast," their active bodies always in motion, busy 
over their little matters with that ceaseless energy 
of boyhood which could move the world could it 
but be concentrated and conserved. They were all 
over the place ; in the orchard robbing birds' nests, 
getting into wild excitement over catbirds, which 
they ruthlessly murdered because they "called 
snakes " ; in spring and summer fishing or " wash- 
ing " in the creek, riding the plough-horses whenever 
they could, running the calves and colts, and being 
as mischievous as young mules. 

There were the little girls in their great sunbon- 
nets, often sewed on to preserve the wonderful 
peach-blossom complexions, with their small female 
companions playing about the yard or garden, run- 
ning with and wishing they were boys, and getting 
scoldings from mammy for being tomboys and 
tearing their aprons and dresses. There, in the 
shade, near her " house," was the mammy and her 
assistants, with her little charge in her arms, sleep- 



150 THE OLD SOUTH 

ing in her ample lap, or toddling about her, with 
broken, half-framed phrases, better understood than 
formed. There passed young negro girls, blue- 
habited, running about bearing messages ; or older 
women moving at a statelier pace, doing with de- 
liberation the little jobs which were their "work" ; 
while about the office, or smoke-house, or dairy, or 
wood-pile there were always some movement and 
life. The recurrent hum on the air of spinning- 
wheels, like the drone of some great insect, sounded 
from the cabins where the turbaned spinners spun 
their fleecy rolls into yarn for the looms which were 
clacking from the loom-rooms making homespun 
for the plantation. 

From the back yard and quarters the laughter of 
women and the shrill, joyous voices of children 
came. Far off, in the fields, the white-shirted 
"ploughers " followed singly their slow teams in the 
fresh furrows, wagons rattled and ox-carts crawled 
along, or gangs of hands in lines performed their 
work in the corn or tobacco fields, loud shouts and 
peals of laughter, mellowed by the distance, float- 
ing up from time to time, telling that the heart 
was light and the toil not too heavy. 

At special times there was special activity : at 
ice-getting time, at corn-thinning time, at fodder- 
pulling time, at threshing-wheat time, but above 
all at corn-shucking time, at hog-killing time, and 
at " harvest." Harvest was spoken of as a season. 
It was a festival. The severest toil of the year 



SOCIAL LIFE BEFORE THE WAR 151 

was a frolic. Every " hand " was eager for it. It 
was the test of the men's prowess and the women's 
skill; for it took a man to swing his cradle through 
the long June days and keep up with the bare- 
necked, knotted-armed leader as he strode and 
swung his cradle ringing through the heavy wheat. 
So it demanded a strong back and nimble fingers to 
" keep up " and bind the sheaves. The young men 
looked forward to it as the young bucks looked to 
the war-path. How gay they appeared, moving in 
oblique lines around the " great parallelograms," 
sweeping down the yellow grain, and, as they 
neared the starting-point, chanting with mellow 
voices the harvest song " Cool Water " ! How 
musical was the cadence as, taking time to get 
their wind, they whetted their ringing blades in 
unison ! There was never any loneliness ; it was 
movement and life without bustle ; while somehow, 
in the midst of it all, the house seemed to sit en- 
throned in perpetual tranquillity, with outstretched 
wings under its spreading oaks, sheltering its chil- 
dren like a great gray dove. 

Even at night there was stirring about : the ring 
of an axe, the infectious music of the banjos, the 
laughter of dancers, the festive noise and merri- 
ment of the cabin, the distant, mellowed shouts of 
'coon or 'possum hunters, or the dirge-like chant of 
some serious and timid wayfarer passing along the 
paths over the hills or through the woods, and solac- 
ing his lonely walk with religious song. 



152 THE OLD SOUTH 

Such, was the outward scene. What was there 
within ? That which has been much misunder- 
stood ; that which was like the roses, wasteful 
beyond measure in its unheeded growth and blow- 
ing; but sweet beyond measure, too, and filling 
with its fragrance not only the region round about, 
but sending it out unstintedly on every breeze that 
wandered by. 

There were the master and the mistress ; the old 
master and old mistress, the young masters and 
young mistresses, and the children; besides some 
aunts and cousins, and the relations or friends who 
did not live there, but were only always on visits. 

Properly, the mistress should be mentioned first, 
as she was the most important personage about the 
home, the presence which pervaded the mansion, 
the master willingly and proudly yielding her the 
active management of all household matters and 
simply carrying out her directions, confining his 
ownership within the curtilage exclusively to his 
old "secretary," which on her part was as sacred 
from her touch as her bonnet was from his. There 
were kept mysterious folded papers, and equally 
mysterious parcels, frequently brown with the 
stain of dust and age. Had the papers been the 
lost sibylline leaves instead of old receipts and 
bills, and the parcels contained diamonds instead 
of long-dried melon-seed or old flints, now out of 
date but once ready to serve a useful purpose, they 
could not have been more sacredly guarded by the 



SOCIAL LIFE BEFORE THE WAR 153 

mistress. The master generally had to hunt for a 
long period for any particular paper, whilst the 
mistress could in a half-hour have arranged every- 
thing in perfect order ; but the chaos was regarded 
by her with veneration as real as that with which 
she regarded the mystery of the heavenly bodies. 
On the other hand, outside of this piece of furni- 
ture there was nothing which the master even pre- 
tended to know of. It was all in her keeping; 
whatever he wanted he called for and she produced 
with a certainty and promptness which appeared to 
him a perpetual miracle. Her system struck him 
as being the result of a wisdom as profound as that 
which fixed and held the firmament. He would not 
have dared to interfere, not because he was afraid, 
but because he recognized her superiority. It would 
no more have occurred to him to make a suggestion 
about the management of the house than about that 
of one of his neighbors, indeed not so readily ; simply 
because he knew her and acknowledged her infalli- 
bility. She was, indeed, a surprising creature — 
often delicate and feeble in frame, and of a ner- 
vous organization so sensitive as to be a great suf- 
ferer; but her force and her character pervaded 
and directed everything, as unseen yet as unmis- 
takably as the power of gravity controls the par- 
ticles that constitute the earth. 

It has been assumed by the outside world that 
our people lived a life of idleness and ease, a 
kind of " hammock-swung," " sherbet-sipping " ex- 



154 THE OLD SOUTH 

istence, fanned by slaves, and, in their pride, 
served on bended knees. No conception could be 
further from the truth. The ease of the master of 
a big plantation was about that of the head of any 
great establishment where numbers of operatives 
are employed ; and to the management of which are 
added the responsibilities of the care and complete 
mastership of the liberty of his operatives and their 
families His work was generally sufficiently sys- 
tematized to admit of enough personal independence 
to enable him to participate in the duties of hos- 
pitality; but any master who had a successfully 
conducted plantation was sure to have given it his 
personal supervision with an unremitting attention 
which would not have failed to secure success in 
any other calling. If this was true of the master, 
it was much more so of the mistress. The master 
might, by having a good overseer and reliable 
headmen, shift a portion of the burden from his 
'shoulders ; the mistress had no such means of 
relief. She was the necessary and invariable func- 
tionary ; the keystone of the domestic economy 
ivhich bound all the rest of the structure and gave 
it its strength and beauty. From early morn till 
morn again the most important and delicate con- 
cerns of the plantation were her charge and care. 
From superintending the setting of the turkeys 
to fighting a pestilence, there was nothing which 
was not her work. She was mistress, manager, 
doctor, nurse, counsellor, seamstress, teacher, house- 



SOCIAL LIFE BEFORE THE WAR 155 

keeper, slave, all at once. She was at the beck 
and call of every one, especially of her husband, 
to whom she was " guide, philosopher, and friend." 

One of them, being told of a broken gate by her 
husband, said, "Well, my dear, if I could sew it 
with my needle and thread, I would mend it for 
you." 

What she was only her husband knew, and 
even he stood before her in dumb, half-amazed 
admiration, as he might before the inscrutable 
vision of a superior being. What she really was, 
was known only to God. Her life was one long 
act of devotion — devotion to God, devotion to 
her husband, devotion to her children, devotion 
to her servants, to her friends, to the poor, to all 
humanity. Nothing happened within the range of 
her knowledge that her sympathy did not reach 
and her charity and wisdom did not ameliorate. 
She was the head and front of the church; an 
unmitred bishop in partibus, more effectual than 
the vestry or deacons, more earnest than the rec- 
tor; she managed her family, regulated her ser- 
vants, fed the poor, nursed the sick, consoled the 
bereaved. Who knew of the visits she paid to the 
cabins of her sick and suffering servants ! often, at 
the dead of night, " slipping down " the last thing 
to see that her directions were carried out ; with 
her own hands administering medicines or food; 
ever by her cheeriness inspiring new hope, by her 
strength giving courage, by her presence awaking 



156 THE OLD SOUTH 

faith; telling in her soft voice to dying ears the 
story of the suffering Saviour ; soothing the troubled 
spirit, and lighting the path down into the valley 
of the dark shadow. What poor person was there, 
however inaccessible the cabin, that was sick or 
destitute and knew not her charity ! who that was 
bereaved that had not her sympathy ! The train- 
ing of her children was her work. She watched 
over them, inspired them, led them, governed them ; 
her will impelled them ; her word to them, as to 
her servants, was law. She reaped the reward. 
If she admired them, she was too wise to let them 
know it ; but her sympathy and tenderness were 
theirs always and they worshipped her. 

There was something in seeing the master and 
mistress obeyed by the plantation and looked up 
to by the neighborhood which inspired the children 
with a reverence akin to awe which is not known 
at this present time. It was not till the young 
people were grown that this reverence lost the awe 
and became based only upon affection and admira- 
tion. Then, for the first time, they dared to jest 
with her ; then, for the first time, they took in 
that she was like them once, young and gay and 
pleasure-loving, with lovers suing for her; with 
coquetries and maidenly ways ; and that she still 
took pleasure in the recollection — this gentle, 
classic, serious mother among her tall sons and 
radiant daughters. How she blushed as they 
laughed at her and teased her to tell of her con* 



SOCIAL LIFE BEFORE THE WAH 157 

quests, her confusion making her look younger and 
prettier than they remembered her, and opening 
their eyes to the truth of what their father had 
told them so often, that not one of them was as 
beautiful as she. 

She became timid and dependent as they grew 
up and she found them adorned with new fashions 
and ways which she did not know ; she gave her- 
self up to their guidance with a helpless kind of 
diffidence; was tremulous over her ignorance of 
the novel fashions which made them so beautiful ; 
yet, when the exactions of her position came upon 
her, she took the lead, and, by her instinctive dig- 
nity, her self-possession, and her force, eclipsed 
them all as naturally as the full moon in heaven 
dims the stars. 

As to the master himself it is hard to generalize. 
Yet there were indeed certain generic characteris- 
tics, whether he was quiet and severe, or jovial 
and easy. There was the foundation of a certain 
pride based on self-respect and consciousness of 
power. There were nearly always the firm mouth 
with its strong lines, the calm, placid, direct gaze, 
the quiet speech of one who is accustomed to com- 
mand and have his command obeyed ; there was a 
contemplative expression due to much communing 
alone, with weighty responsibilities resting upon 
him ; there was absolute self-confidence, and often a 
look caused by tenacity of opinion. There was not 
a doubtful line in the face nor a doubtful tone in 



158 THE OLD SOUTH 

the voice ; his opinions were convictions ; he was a 
partisan to the backbone ; he was generally incapa- 
ble of seeing more than one side. This prevented 
breadth, but gave force. He was proud, but never 
haughty except to dishonor. To that he was inex- 
orable. He believed in God, he believed in his 
wife, he believed in his blood. He was chivalrous, 
he was generous, he was usually incapable of fear 
or meanness. To be a Virginia gentleman was the 
first duty ; it embraced being a Christian and all 
the virtues. He lived as one; he left it as a 
heritage to his children. He was fully appreciative 
of both the honors and the responsibilities of his 
position. He believed in a democracy, but under- 
stood that the absence of a titled aristocracy had 
to be supplied by a class more virtuous than he 
believed them to be. This class was, of course, 
that to which he belonged. He purposed in his 
own person to prove that this was practicable. He 
established that it was. This and other responsi- 
bilities made him grave. He had inherited gravity 
from his father and grandfather before him. The 
latter had been a performer in the greatest work 
of modern times, with the shadow of the scaffold 
over him if he failed. The former had faced the 
weighty problems of the new government, with 
ever many unsolved questions to answer. He him- 
self faced problems not less grave. The greatness 
of the past, the time when Virginia had been the 
mighty power of the New World, loomed even 



SOCIAL LIFE BEFORE THE WAR 15 & 

above him. It increased his natural conservatism. 
He saw the change that was steadily creeping on. 
The conditions that had given his class their power 
and prestige had altered. The fields were worked 
down, and agriculture that had made his class rich 
no longer paid. The cloud was already gathering 
in the horizon ; the shadow already was stretching 
towards him. He could foresee the danger that 
threatened Virginia. A peril ever sat beside his 
door. He was "holding the wolf by the ears." 
Outside influences hostile to his interest were being 
brought to bear. Any movement must work him 
injury. He sought the only refuge that appeared. 
He fell back behind the Constitution that his 
fathers had helped to establish, and became a 
strict constructionist for Virginia and his rights. 
These things made him grave. He reflected much. 
Out on the long verandas in the dusk of the sum- 
mer nights, with his wide fields stretching away 
into the gloom, and " the woods " bounding the 
horizon, his thoughts dwelt upon serious things ; 
he pondered causes and consequences ; he resolved 
everything to prime principles. He communed 
with the Creator, and his first work, Nature. 

He was a wonderful talker. He discoursed of phil- 
osophy, politics, and religion. He read much, gener- 
ally on these subjects, and read only the best. His 
book-cases held the masters (in mellow Elzevirs 
and Lintots) who had been his father's friends, 
and with whom he associated and communed more 



160 THE OLD SOUTH 

intimately than with his neighbors. Horace, Virgil, 
Ovid, Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden, Goldsmith, 
" Mr. Pope," were his poets ; Bacon, Burke, and 
Dr. Johnson were his philosophers. These "new 
fellows " that his sons raved over he held in so 
much contempt that his mere statement of their 
inferiority was to his mind an all-convincing argu- 
ment. 

Yet, if he was generally grave, he was at times, 
among his intimates and guests, jovial, even gay. 
On festive occasions no one surpassed him in cheer- 
iness. When the house was full of guests he was 
the life of the company. He led the prettiest girl 
out for the dance. At Christmas he took her under 
the mistletoe and paid her compliments which 
made her blush and courtesy with dimpling face and 
dancing eyes. But whatever was his mood, what- 
ever his surroundings, he was always the exponent 
of that grave and knightly courtesy which under 
all conditions has become associated with the title 
"Virginia gentleman." 

Whether or not the sons were, as young men, 
peculiarly admirable may be a question. They 
possessed th,e faults and the virtues of young men 
of their kind and condition. They were much 
given to self-indulgence; they were not broad in 
their limitations ; they were apt to contemn what did 
not accord with their own established views (for their 
views were established before their mustaches) ; 
they were wasteful of time and energies beyond 



SOCIAL LIFE BEFORE THE WAR 161 

belief ; they were addicted to the pursuit of pleasure, 
and blind to opportunities which were priceless. 
They exhibited the customary failings of their kind 
in a society of an aristocratic character. But they 
possessed in full measure the corresponding virtues. 
They were brave, they were generous, they were 
high-spirited. Indulgence in pleasure did not de- 
stroy them. It was the young French noblesse 
who affected to eschew exertion even to the point 
of having themselves borne on litters on their 
boar-hunts, who yet, with a hundred pounds of iron 
buckled on their frames, charged like furies at 
Fontenoy. So these same languid, philandering 
young gentlemen of Virginia at the crucial time 
suddenly appeared as the most dashing and indom- 
itable soldiery of modern times. It was the Nor- 
folk company known as the " Dandies " that was 
extirpated in a single day. 

But, whatever may be thought of the sons, there 
can be no question as to the daughters. They were 
like the mother ; made in her own image. They 
filled a peculiar place in the civilization ; the key 
was set to them ; they held by a universal consent 
the first place in the system, all social life revolving 
around them. So generally did the life shape itself 
about the young girl that it was almost as if a bit 
of the age of chivalry had been blown down the 
centuries and lodged in the old State. She instinc- 
tively adapted herself to it. In fact, she was made 
for it. She was gently bred : her people for gener- 



162 THE OLD SOUTH 

ations (since they had come to Virginia) were gen- 
tlefolk. They were so well satisfied that they had 
been the same in the mother country that they had 
never taken the trouble to investigate it. She was 
the incontestable proof of their gentility. In right 
of her blood (the beautiful Saxon, tempered by the 
influences of the genial Southern clime), she was 
exquisite, fine, beautiful ; a creature of peach-blos- 
som and snow ; languid, delicate, saucy ; now impe- 
rious, now melting, always bewitching. She was 
not versed in the ways of the world, but she had 
no need to be ; she was better than that ; she was 
well bred. She had not to learn to be, because she 
was born a lady. Generations had given her that 
by heredity. But ignorance of the world did not 
make her provincial. Her instinct was an infallible 
guide. When a child she had in her sunbonnet 
and apron met the visitors at the front steps and 
entertained them in the parlor until her mother 
was ready. Thus she had grown up to the duties 
of hostess. Her manners were as perfectly formed 
as her mother's, with perhaps a shade more self- 
possession. Her beauty was a title which gave 
her a graciousness that befitted her. She never 
" came out," because she had never been in ; and 
the line between girlhood and young-ladyhood was 
never known. She began to have beaux certainly 
before she reached the line ; but it did her no harm : 
she would long walk herself " fancy free " ; a pro- 
tracted devotion was required of her lovers, and 



SOCIAL LIFE BEFORE THE WAR 163 

they began early. They were willing to serve long, 
for she was a prize worth winning. Her beauty, 
though it was often dazzling, was not her chief 
attraction ; that was herself. It was that indefin- 
able charm : the result of many attractions, in 
combination and in perfect harmony, which made 
her herself. She was delicate, she was dainty, she 
was sweet. She lived in an atmosphere created for 
her — the pure, clean, sweet atmosphere of her 
country home. She made its sunshine. She was a 
coquette, often an outrageous flirt. It did not 
imply heartlessness. It was said that the worst 
flirts made the most devoted wives. It was simply 
an instinct, an inheritance ; it was in the life. Her 
heart was tender towards every living thing but 
her lovers ; even to them it was soft in every way 
but one. Had they had a finger-ache she would 
have sympathized with them. But in the matter 
of love she was inexorable, remorseless. She played 
upon every chord of the heart. Perhaps it was 
because, when she gave up, the surrender was to 
be absolute. From the moment of marriage she 
was the worshipper. She was a strange being. 
Dressed in her muslin and lawn, with her delicious, 
low, slow, musical speech ; accustomed to be waited 
on at every turn, with servants to do her every 
bidding, unhabituated often even to putting on 
her dainty slippers or combing her soft hair, she 
possessed a reserve force which was astounding. 
She was accustomed to have her wishes obeyed 



164 THE OLD SOUTH 

as commands. It did not make her imperious; it 
simply gave her the habit of control. At marriage 
she was prepared to assume the duties of mistress 
of her establishment, whether it were great or 
small. 

Thus, when the time came, the class at the South 
which had been deemed the most supine suddenly 
appeared as the most active and the most indom- 
itable. The courage which was displayed in battle 
was wonderful; but it was nothing to what the 
Southern women exemplified at home. There was 
perhaps not a doubtful woman within the limits of 
the Confederacy. While their lovers and husbands 
fought in the field, they performed the harder part 
of waiting at home. With more than a soldier's 
courage they bore more than a soldier's hardship. 
For four long years they listened to the noise of 
the guns, awaiting with blanched faces but un- 
daunted hearts the news of battle after battle ; 
buried their beloved dead with tears, and still amid 
their tears encouraged the survivors to fight on. It 
was a force which has not been duly estimated. 
It was in the blood. 

She was, indeed, a strange creature, that delicate, 
dainty, mischievous, tender, God-fearing, inexplica- 
ble Southern girl. With her fine grain, her silken 
hair, her satiny skin, her musical speech; pleas- 
ure-loving, saucy, bewitching — deep down lay the 
bed-rock foundation of innate virtue, piety, and 
womanliness, on which were planted all to which 



SOCIAL LIFE BEFORE THE WAR 165 

human nature can hope, and all to which it can 
aspire. Words fail to convey an idea of what she 
was ; as well try to describe the beauty of the rose 
or the perfume of the violet. To appreciate her 
one must have seen her, have known her, have 
adored her. 

There are certain characters without mention of 
which no description of the social life of old Vir- 
ginia or of the South would be complete — the old 
mammies and family servants about the house. 
These were important functionaries. The mammy 
was the zealous, faithful, and efficient assistant of 
the mistress in all that pertained to the training of 
the children. Her authority was recognized in all 
that related to them directly or indirectly, second 
only to that of the mistress and master. She regu- 
lated them, disciplined them, having authority in- 
deed in cases to administer correction. Her rigime 
extended frequently through two generations, occa- 
sionally through three. From their infancy she 
was the careful and faithful nurse, the affection 
between her and the children she nursed being 
often more marked than that between her and her 
own children. She may have been harsh to the 
latter ; she was never anything but tender with the 
others. Her authority was, in a measure, recog- 
nized through life, for her devotion was unques- 
tionable. The young masters and mistresses were 
her " children " long after they had children of their 
own. They embraced her, when they parted from 



166 THE OLD SOUTH 

her or met with her again after separation, with 
the same affection as when in childhood she "led 
them smiling into sleep." She was worthy of the 
affection. At all times she was their faithful ally, 
shielding them, excusing them, petting them, aiding 
them, yet holding them up to a certain high account- 
ability. Her influence was always for good. She 
received, as she gave, an unqualified affection; if 
she was a slave, she at least was not a servant, but 
was an honored member of the family, universally 
beloved, universally cared for — " the Mammy." 

Next to her were the butler and the carriage- 
driver. These were the aristocrats of the family, 
who trained the children in good manners and 
other exercises ; and uncompromising aristocrats 
they were. The butler was apt to be severe, and 
was feared ; the driver was genial and kindly, and 
was adored. I recall a butler, " Uncle Tom," an 
austere gentleman, who was the terror of the juniors 
of the connection. One of the children, after watch- 
ing him furtively as he moved about with grand air, 
when he had left the room and his footsteps had 
died away, crept over and asked her grandmother, 
his mistress, in an awed whisper, " Grandma, are 
you 'fraid of Unc' Tom ? " Perhaps even grandma 
stood a little in awe of him. The driver was the 
ally of the boys, and consequently had an ally in 
their mother, the mistress. As the head of the 
stable, he was an important personage in their 
eyes. This comradeship was never forgot ; it 



SOGIAL LIFE BEFORE THE WAR 167 

lasted through life ; the years might grow on him, 
but he was left in command even when he was too 
feeble to hold the horses ; and to the end he was 
always " the Driver of Mistress's carriage." 

Other servants there were with special places 
and privileges — gardeners and "boys about the 
house," comrades of the boys ; and " own maids " 
of the ladies, for each girl had her " own maid " 
— they all formed one great family in the social 
structure now passed away, a structure incredible 
by those who knew it not, and now, under new 
conditions, almost incredible by those who knew it 
best. 

The social life formed of these elements in com- 
bination was one of singular sweetness and freedom 
from vice. If it was not filled with excitement, it 
was replete with happiness and content. It is 
asserted that it was narrow. Perhaps it was. It 
was so sweet, so charming, that it is little wonder 
if it asked nothing more than to be let alone. 

They were a careless and pleasure-loving people ; 
but, as in most rural communities, their festivities 
were free from dissipation. There was sometimes 
too great an indulgence on the part of young men 
in the State drink — the julep; but whether it was 
that it killed early or that it was usually abandoned 
as the responsibilities of life increased, an elderly 
man of dissipated habits was almost unknown. 
They were fond of sport, and excelled in it, being 
generally fine shots and skilled hunters. Love of 



168 THE OLD SOUTH 

horses was a race characteristic, and fine horseman- 
ship was a thing" little considered only because it 
was universal. 

The life was gay. In addition to the perpetual 
round of ordinary entertainment, there was always 
on hand or in prospect some more formal festivity 
— a club meeting ; a fox-hunt ; a party ; a tourna- 
ment; a wedding. Little excuse was needed to 
bring them together where every one was social, 
and where the great honor was to be the host. 
Scientific horse-racing was confined to the regular 
race-tracks, where the races were not little dashes, 
but four-mile heats which tested speed and bottom 
alike. But good blood was common, and a ride even 
with a girl in an afternoon generally meant a dash 
along the level through the woods, where, truth to 
tell, she was very apt to win. Occasionally there 
was even a dash from the church. The high-swung 
carriages, having received their precious loads of 
lily-fingered, pink-faced, laughing girls, with teeth 
like pearls and eyes like stars, helped in by young 
men who would have thrown not only their cloaks 
but their hearts into the mud to keep those dainty 
feet from being soiled, would go ahead ; and then, 
the restive saddle-horses being untied from the 
swinging limbs, the young gallants would mount, 
and, by an instinctive common impulse, starting all 
together, would make a dash to the first hill, on top 
of which the dust still lingered, a nimbus thrown 
from the wheels that rolled their goddesses. 



SOCIAL LIFE BEFORE THE WAR 169 

The chief sport, however, was fox-hunting. It 
was, in season, almost universal. Who that lived 
in Old Virginia does not remember the fox-hunts 
— the eager chase after " grays " or " old reds " ! 
The grays furnished more fun, the reds more excite- 
ment. The grays did not run so far, but usually 
kept near home, going in a circuit of six or eight 
miles. "An old red," generally so called irrespec- 
tive of age, as a tribute of respect for his prowess, 
was apt to lead the dogs all day, and might wind 
up by losing them as evening fell, after taking them 
in a dead stretch for thirty miles. The capture of a 
gray was what men boasted of; a chase after " an old 
red" was what they "yarned" about. Some old reds 
became historical characters, and were as well known 
and as much discussed in the counties they inhabited 
as the leaders of the bar or the crack speakers of the 
circuit. The wiles and guiles of each veteran were 
the pride of his neighbors and hunters. Many of 
them had names. Gentlemen discussed them at 
their club dinners ; lawyers told stories about them 
in the " Lawyers' Rooms " at the court-houses ; 
young men, while they waited for the preacher to 
get well into the service before going into church, 
bragged about them in the churchyards on Sundays. 
There was one such that I remember; he was 
known as "Nat Turner," after the notorious negro 
of that name, who, after inciting the revolt in 
Southampton County, in the year 1832, known as 
" Nat Turner's Rebellion," in which some fifty per- 



170 THE OLD SOUTH 

sons were massacred, remained out in hiding for 
weeks after all his followers were taken before he 
was captured. 

Great frolics these old red hunts were ; for there 
were the prettiest girls in the world in the country- 
houses around, and each young fellow was sure to 
have in his heart some brown-eyed or blue-eyed 
maiden to whom he had promised the brush, and to 
whom, with feigned indifference but with mantling 
cheek and beating heart, he would carry it if, as he 
counted on doing, he should win it. Sometimes the 
girls came over themselves and rode, or more likely 
were already there visiting, and the beaux followed 
them, and got up the hunt in their honor. 

Even the boys had their sweethearts, and rode 
for them on the colts or mules : not the small girls 
of their own age (no, sir, no "little girls" for them) 
— their sweethearts were grown young ladies, with 
smiling eyes and silken hair and graceful mien, 
whom their grown cousins courted, and whom they 
with their boys' hearts worshipped. Often a half- 
dozen were in love with one — always the prettiest 
one — and, with the generous democratic spirit of 
boys in whom the selfish instinct has not awakened, 
agreed among themselves that they would all ride 
for her, and that whichever of them got the brush 
should present it on behalf of all. 

What a sight it was ! The appearance of the 
hunters on the far hill, in the evening, with their 
packs surrounding them ! Who does not recall the 



SOCIAL LIFE BEFORE THE WAR 171 

excitement at the house ; the arrival in the yard, 
with horns blowing, hounds baying, horses pranc- 
ing, and girls laughing ; the picture of the girls on 
the front portico with their arms round each other's 
dainty waists — the slender, pretty figures, the 
bright faces, the sparkling eyes, the gay laughter 
and musical voices as they challenged the riders 
with coquettish merriment, demanding to blow the 
horns themselves or to ride some specially hand- 
some horse next morning ! The way, the challenge 
being accepted, they tripped down the steps to get 
the horn, some shrinking from the bounding dogs 
with little subdued screams, one or two with stouter 
hearts, fixed upon higher game, bravely ignoring 
them and leaving their management to their mas- 
ters, who at their approach sprang to the ground to 
meet them, hat in hand and the telltale blood mount- 
ing to their sunburned faces, handsome with the 
beauty of youth ! 

I am painfully aware of the inadequacy of my 
picture. But who could do justice to the truth ! 

It was owing to all these and some other charac- 
teristics that the life was what it was. It was on 
a charming key. It possessed an ampleness and 
generosity which were not splendid because they 
were refined. 

Hospitality had become a recognized race charac- 
teristic, and was practised as a matter of course. 
It was universal ; it was spontaneous. It was one 
of the distinguishing features of the civilization; 



172 THE OLD SOUTH 

as much a part of the social life as any other of 
the domestic relations. Its generosity secured it 
a distinctive title. The exactions it entailed were 
engrossing. Its exercises occupied much of the 
time, and exhausted much of the means. The con- 
stant intercourse of the neighborhood, with its per- 
petual round of dinners, teas, and entertainments, 
was supplemented by visits of friends and relatives 
from other sections, who came, with their families, 
their equipages, and personal servants, to spend a 
month or two, or as long a time as they pleased. 
A dinner invitation was not so designated. It was, 
with more exactitude, termed " spending the day." 
On Sundays every one invited every one else from 
church, and there would be long lines of carriages 
passing in at the open gates. 

It is a mystery how the house ever held the 
visitors. Only the mistress knew. Her resources 
were enormous. The rooms, with their low ceilings, 
were wide, and had a holding capacity which was 
simply astounding. The walls seemed to be made 
of india-rubber, so great was their stretching power. 
No one who came, whether friend or stranger, was 
ever turned away. If the beds were full — as when 
were they not ! — pallets were put down on the 
floor in the parlor or the garret for the younger 
members of the family, sometimes even the pas- 
sages being utilized. Often children spent half 
their lives on pallets " made up " on the floors. 
Frequently at Christmas the master and mistress 



SOCIAL LIFE BEFOKE THE WAR 173 

were compelled to resort to the same refuge, their 
pallet being placed in the garret. 

It was this intercourse, following the intermar- 
riage and class feeling of the old families, which 
made Virginians clannish and caused a single dis- 
tinguishable common strain of blood, however dis- 
tant, to be counted as kinship. 

Perhaps this universal entertainment might not 
now be considered elegant ; perhaps. 

It was based upon a sentiment as pure as can 
animate the human mind. It was easy, generous, 
and refined. The manners of the entertainers and 
entertained were gentle, cordial, simple, with, to 
strangers, a slight trace of stateliness. 

The conversation was surprising; it was of the 
crops, the roads, politics, mutual friends, including 
the entire field of neighborhood matters, related not 
as gossip, but as affairs of common interest, which 
every one knew or was expected and entitled to 
know. 

The fashions came in, of course, among the 
ladies, embracing particularly " patterns." 

Politics took the place of honor among the gen- 
tlemen, their range embracing not only State and 
national politics, but British as well, as to which 
they possessed astonishing knowledge, interest in 
English matters having been handed down from 
father to son as a class test. " My father's " opinion 
was quoted as a conclusive authority on this and 
all points, and in matters of great importance his 



174 THE OLD SOUTH 

torically "my grandfather, sir," was cited. The 
peculiarity of the whole was that it possessed a lit- 
erary flavor of a high order ; for, as has been said, 
the classics, Latin and English, with a fair sprink- 
ling of good old French authors, were in the book- 
cases, and were there not for show, but for compan- 
ionship. There was nothing for show in that life ; 
it was all genuine, real, true. 

The great fete of the people was Christmas. 
Spring had its special delights : horseback rides 
through the budding woods, with the birds singing; 
fishing parties down on the little rivers, with out- 
of-doors lunches and love-making ; parties of various 
kinds from house to house. Summer had its pleas- 
ures : handsome dinners, and teas with moonlight 
strolls and rides to follow ; visits to or from rela- 
tions, or even to the White Sulphur Springs, called 
simply " the White." The Fall had its pleasures. 
But all times and seasons paled and dimmed before 
the festive joys of Christmas. It had been handed 
down for generations ; it belonged to the race. It 
had come over with their forefathers. It had a 
peculiar significance. It was a title. Religion had 
given it its benediction. It was the time to 
"Shout the glad tidings." It was The Holidays. 
There were other holidays for the slaves, both of 
the school-room and the plantation, such as Easter 
and Whit-Monday ; but Christmas was distinctively 
"The Holidays." Then the boys came home from 
school or college with their friends ; the members 



SOCIAL LIFE BEFORE THE WAR 175 

of the family who had moved away returned ; 
pretty cousins came for the festivities ; the neigh- 
borhood grew merry ; the negroes were all to have 
holiday, the house-servants taking turn and turn 
about, and the plantation made ready for Christ- 
mas cheer. It was by all the younger population 
looked back to half the year, looked forward to the 
other half. Time was measured by it ; it was either 
so long "since Christmas," or so long "before Christ- 
mas." The affairs of the plantation were set in 
order against it. The corn was got in; the hogs 
were killed; the lard " tried " ; sausage-meat made; 
mince-meat prepared; the turkeys fattened, with 
"the old big gobbler" specially devoted to the 
" Christmas dinner " ; the servants' new shoes and 
winter clothes stored away ready for distribution ; 
and the plantation began to be ready to prepare 
for Christmas. 

In the first place, there was generally a cold 
spell which froze up everything and enabled the 
ice-houses to be filled. [The seasons, like a good 
many other things, appear to have changed since 
the war.] This spell was the harbinger; and 
great fun it was at the ice-pond, where the big 
rafts of ice were floated along, with the boys on 
them. The rusty skates with their curled runners 
and stiff straps were got out, and maybe tried for 
a day. Then the stir began. The wagons all were 
put to hauling wood — hickory ; nothing but hick- 
ory now; other wood might do for other times, but 



176 THE OLD SOUTH 

at Christmas only hickory was used; and the 
wood-pile was heaped high with the logs ; while to 
the ordinary wood-cutters " for the house " were 
added three, four, a half-dozen more, whose shining 
axes rang around the wood-pile all day long. With 
what a vim they cut, and how telling was that 
" Ha'nh ! " as they drove the ringing axes into the 
hard wood, sending the big white chips flying ! It 
was always the envy of the boys, that simultaneous, 
ostentatious expulsion of the breath, and they used 
vainly to try to imitate it. 

In the midst of it came the wagon or the ox-cart 
from "the depot," with the big white boxes of 
Christmas things, the black driver feigning hypo- 
critical indifference as he drove through the chop- 
pers to the storeroom. Then came the rush of all 
the wood-cutters to help him unload; the jokes 
among themselves, as they pretended to strain in 
lifting, of what "master" or "mistis" was going to 
give them out of those boxes, uttered just loud 
enough to reach their master's or mistress's ears 
where they stood looking on, while the driver took 
due advantage of his temporary prestige to give 
many pompous cautions and directions. 

The getting the evergreens and mistletoe was 
the sign that Christmas had come, was really here. 
There were the parlor and hall and dining-room, 
and, above all, the old church, to be "dressed." 
The last was a neighborhood work ; all united 
in it, and it was one of the events of the year. 



SOCIAL LIFE BEFOEE THE WAR 177 

Young men rode thirty and forty miles to " help " 
dress that church. They did not go home again 
till after Christmas. The return from the church 
was the beginning of the festivities. 

Then by "Christmas Eve's eve" the wood was 
all cut and stacked high in the wood-house and on 
and under the back porticos, so as to be handy, 
and secure from the snow which was almost certain 
to come. Then came the snow. It seems that 
Christmas was almost sure to bring it in old times ; 
at least it is closely associated with it. The excite- 
ment increased ; the boxes were unpacked, some of 
them openly, to the general delight, others with a 
mysterious secrecy which stimulated the curiosity 
to its highest point and added to the charm of the 
occasion. The kitchen filled up with assistants 
famed for special skill in particular branches of the 
cook's art, who bustled about with glistening faces 
and shining teeth, proud of their elevation and eager 
to add to the general cheer. 

It was now Christmas Eve. From time to time the 
"hired out" servants came home from Richmond 
or other places where they had been hired or had 
hired out themselves, their terms having been by 
common custom framed, with due regard to then- 
rights to the holiday, to expire in time for them to 
spend the Christmas at home. 1 There was much hi- 
larity over their arrival, and they were welcomed 
like members of the family as, with their new winter 

1 The hiring contracts ran from New Year to CUriatmas. 



178 THE OLD SOUTH 

clothes donned a little ahead of time, they came to 
pay their "bespec's to master and mistis." 

Then the vehicles went off to the distant station 
for the visitors — for the visitors and the boys. 
Oh, the excitement of that! the drag of the long 
hours at first, and then the eager expectancy as the 
time approached for their return ; the " making up " 
of the fires in the visitors' rooms (of the big fires ; 
there had been fires there all day "to air" them, 
but now they must be made up afresh) ; the hurry- 
ing backwards and forwards of the servants ; the 
feverish impatience of every one, especially of the 
children, who are sure the train is late or that 
something has happened, and who run and "look 
up towards the big gate " every five minutes, not- 
withstanding the mammy's oft-repeated caution 
that a "watch' pot never b'iles." There was an 
exception to the excitement : the mistress, calm, 
deliberate, unperturbed, moved about with her 
usual serene composure, her watchful eye seeing 
that everything was " ready " (her orders had been 
given and her arrangements made days before, 
such was her system). The girls, having finished 
dressing the parlor and hall, had disappeared. Sat- 
isfied at last with their work, after innumerable 
final touches, every one of which was an undeniable 
improvement to that which already appeared per- 
fect, they had suddenly vanished — vanished as 
completely as a dream — to appear again later on 
at the parlor door, radiant visions of loveliness, 



SOCIAL LIFE BEFORE THE WAR 179 

or, maybe, if certain unlooked-for visitors unex- 
pectedly arrived, to meet accidentally in the less em- 
barrassing and safer precincts of the dimly lighted 
passages. When they appeared, what a transforma- 
tion had taken place ! If they were bewitching 
before, now they were entrancing. The gay, laugh- 
ing, saucy creature who had been dressing the 
parlors and hanging the mistletoe with many jests 
and parries of the half-veiled references was now a 
demure or stately maiden in all the dignity of a 
new gown and with all the graciousness of a young 
countess. 

But this is after the carriages return. They 
have not yet come. They are late — they are al- 
ways late — and it is dark before they come ; the 
glow of the fires and candles shines out through 
the windows on the snow, often blackened by the 
shadows of little figures whose noses are pressed to 
the panes, which grow blurred with their warm 
breath. Meantime the carriages, piled up outside 
and in, are slowly making their way homeward 
through the frozen roads, followed by the creaking 
wagon filled with trunks, on which are perched 
several small muffled figures, whose places in the 
carriages are taken by unexpected guests. The 
drivers still keep up a running fire with their young 
masters, though they have long since been pumped 
dry by " them boys " as to every conceivable 
matter connected with "home," in return for which 
they receive information as to school and college 



180 THE OLD SOUTH 

pranks. At last the " big gate " is reached ; a half- 
frozen figure rolls out and runs to open it, flapping 
his arms in the darkness like some strange, uncanny 
bird; they pass through; the gleam of a light 
shines away off on a far hill. The shout goes up, 
" There she is ; I see her ! " The light is lost, but 
a little later appears again. It is the light in the 
mother's chamber, the curtains of the windows of 
which have been left up intentionally, that the wel- 
coming gleam may be seen afar off by her boys on 
the first hill — a blessed beacon shining from home 
and her mother's heart. 

Across the white fields the dark vehicles move, 
then toil up the house hill, filled with their eager 
occupants, who can scarce restrain themselves; ap- 
proach the house, by this time glowing with lighted 
windows, and enter the yard just as the doors open 
and a swarm rushes out with joyful cries of, "Here 
they are ! " "Yes, here we are !" comes in cheery 
answer, and one after another they roll or step out, 
according to age and dignity, and run up the steps, 
stamping their feet, the boys to be taken fast into 
motherly arms, and the visitors to be given warm 
handclasps and cordial welcomes. 

Later on the children were got to bed, scarce able 
to keep in their pallets for excitement ; the stock- 
ings were all hung up over the big fireplace ; and 
the grown people grew gay in the crowded par- 
lors. Mark you, there was no splendor, nor show, 
nor style as it would be understood now. Had 



SOCIAL LIFE BEFORE THE WAR 181 

there been, it could not have been so charming. 
There were only profusion and sincerity, hearti- 
ness and gayety, fun and merriment, cordiality 
and cheer, and withal genuineness and refinement. 

Next morning before light the stir began. 
White-clad little figures stole about in the gloom, 
with bulging stockings clasped to their bosoms, 
opening doors, shouting " Christmas gift ! " into 
dark rooms at sleeping elders, and then scurrying 
away like so many white mice, squeaking with 
delight, to rake open the embers and inspect their 
treasures. At prayers, "Shout the glad tidings" 
was sung by fresh young voices with due fervor. 

How gay the scene was at breakfast ! What 
pranks had been performed in the name of Santa 
Claus ! Every foible had been played on. What 
lovely telltale blushes and glances and laughter 
greeted the confessions ! The larger part of the day 
was spent in going to and coming from the beauti- 
fully dressed church, where the service was read, 
and the anthems and hymns were sung by every- 
body, for every one was happy. 

But, as in the beginning of things, " the evening 
and the morning were the first day." Dinner was 
the great event. It was the test of the mistress 
and the cook, or, rather, the cooks ; for the kitchen 
now was full of them. It is impossible to describe 
it. The old mahogany table, stretched diagonally 
across the dining-room, groaned; the big gobbler 
filled the place of honor; a great round of beef 



182 THE OLD SOUTH 

held the second place ; an old ham, with every 
other dish that ingenuity, backed by long expe- 
rience, could devise, was at the side, and the shin- 
ing sideboard, gleaming with glass, scarcely held 
the dessert. The butler and his assistants were 
supernaturally serious and slow, which bespoke 
plainly too frequent a recourse to the apple-toddy 
bowl; but, under stimulus of the mistress's eye, 
they got through all right, and their slight un- 
steadiness was overlooked. 

It was then that the fun began. 

After dinner there were apple-toddy and egg- 
nogg, as there had been before. 

There were games and dances — country dances, 
the lancers and quadrilles. The top of the old 
piano was lifted up, and the infectious dancing- 
tunes rolled out under the flying fingers. There 
was some demur on the part of the elder ladies, 
who were not quite sure that it was right ; but it 
was overruled by the gentlemen, and the master in 
his frock coat and high collar started the ball by 
catching the prettiest girl by the hand and leading 
her to the head of the room right under the noses 
of half a dozen bashful lovers, calling to them 
meantime to "get their sweethearts and come along." 
Round dancing was not yet introduced. It was 
regarded as an innovation, if nothing worse. It 
was held generally as highly improper, by some as 
" disgusting." As to the german, why, had it been 
known, the very, name would have been sufficient 



SOCIAL LIFE BEFORE THE WAR 183 

to damn it. Nothing foreign in that civilization ! 
There was fun enough in the old-fashioned country- 
dances, and the " Virginia reel" at the close; who- 
ever could not be satisfied with that was hard to 
please. 

There were the negro parties, where the ladies 
and gentlemen went to look on, the suppers hav- 
ing been superintended by the mistresses, and the 
tables being decorated by their own white hands. 
There was almost sure to be a negro wedding dur- 
ing the holidays. The ceremony might be per- 
formed in the dining-room or in the hall by the 
master, or in a quarter by a colored preacher ; but 
it was a gay occasion, and the dusky bride's trous- 
seau had been arranged by her young mistress, and 
the family was on hand to get fun out of the enter- 
tainment. 

Other weddings there were, too, sometimes fol- 
lowing these Christmas gayeties, and sometimes 
occurring " just so," because the girls were the love- 
liest in the world, and the men were lovers almost 
from their boyhood. How beautiful our mothers 
must have been in their youth to have been so 
•beautiful in their age ! 

There were no long journeys for the young mar- 
ried folk in those times ; the travelling was usually 
done before marriage. When a wedding took place, 
however, the entire neighborhood entertained the 
young couple. 

Truly it was a charming life. There was a vast 



184 THE OLD SOUTH 

"waste ; but it was not loss. Every one had food, 
every one had raiment, every one had peace. There 
was not wealth in the base sense in which we know 
it and strive for it and trample down others for it 
now. But there was wealth in a good old sense in 
which the litany of our fathers used it. There 
was weal. There was the best of all wealth ; there 
was content, and "a quiet mind is richer than a 
crown." 

We have gained something by the change. The 
South under her new conditions will grow rich, will 
wax fat; nevertheless we have lost much. How 
much only those who knew it can estimate; to 
them it was inestimable. 

That the social life of the Old South had its 
faults I am far from denying. What civilization 
has not ? But its virtues far outweighed them ; 
its graces were never equalled. For all its faults, 
it was, I believe, the purest, sweetest life ever lived. 
It has been claimed that it was non-productive, that 
it fostered sterility. Only ignorance or folly could 
make the assertion. It largely contributed to pro- 
duce this nation ; it led its armies and its navies ; it 
established this government so firmly that not even 
it could overthrow it ; it opened up the great West ; 
it added Louisiana and Texas, and more than trebled 
our territory ; it christianized the negro race in a 
little over two centuries, impressed upon it regard 
for order, and gave it the only civilization it has 
ever possessed since the dawn of history. It has 



SOCIAL LIFE BEFORE THE WAR 185 

maintained the supremacy of the Caucasian race, 
upon which all civilization seems now to de- 
pend. It produced a people whose heroic fight 
against the forces of the world has enriched the 
annals of the human race. — a people whose forti- 
tude in defeat has been even more splendid than 
their valor in war. It made men noble, gentle, and 
brave, and women tender and pure and true. It 
may have fallen short in material development in 
its narrower sense, but it abounded in spiritual 
development ; it made the domestic virtues as com- 
mon as light and air, and filled homes with purity 
and peace. 

It has passed from the earth, but it has left its 
benignant influence behind it to sweeten and sus- 
tain its children. The ivory palaces have been 
destroyed, but myrrh, aloes, and cassia still breathe 
amid their dismantled ruins. 



TWO OLD COLONIAL PLACES 
OLD YORKTOWN AND OLD EOSEWELL 



TWO OLD COLONIAL PLACES 



OLD YORKTOWN 

One hundred years ago, the eyes of a few colonies 
along the Atlantic seaboard were turned anxiously 
toward " Little York," a small town in Virginia, sit- 
uated on the curve of York River, in Indian days 
the great "Pamunkee," just above where its white 
current mingles with the green waters of Chesa- 
peake Bay. There was being fought the death 
struggle between Great Britain and her revolution- 
ary colonies, — between the Old and the New. 

Affairs had assumed a gloomy aspect. The army 
of the South had been defeated and driven back into 
Virginia, barely escaping annihilation by forced 
marches, and by the successful passage of the deep 
rivers which intersect the country through which it 
retreated ; Virginia, the backbone of the Revolution, 
had been swept by two invasions; and Cornwallis 
with his victorious army was marching trium- 
phantly through her borders, trying by every means 
he could devise to bring his only opponent, a young 
French officer, to an engagement. Had "the boy," 

189 



190 THE OLD SOUTH 

Lafayette, proved as reckless as the British com« 
mander believed him, the end would have come be- 
fore De Grasse with his fleet anchored in the Chesa- 
peake. He was, however, no boy in the art of war, 
and at length Cornwallis, wearied of trying to catch 
him, retired to York, and intrenching himself, 
awaited re-enforcements from the North. Just at 
this time, Providence directed the French admiral 
to the Virginia coast, and the American commander- 
in-chief, finding himself suddenly possessed of a 
force such as he had never hoped for in his wildest 
dreams, and knowing that he could count on the new 
re-enforcements for only a few weeks, determined to 
put his fate to the touch, and win if possible by a 
coup de main. With this end in view, he withdrew 
from. New York, and came down to Jersey as if to 
get near his ovens, a move which misled the British 
commander, who knew that a good meal was a suffi- 
cient inducement to carry the hungry American 
troops farther than that, and did not suspect the 
ulterior object until he learned that Washington 
was well on his way to Virginia. In the last days 
of September, the colonial general arrived before 
York and threw the die. Before the end of three 
weeks, the British troops marched out with cased 
colors, prisoners of war. The details of the sur- 
render included an act of poetic retribution. When 
General Lincoln had, not long before, surrendered 
at Charleston to Cornwallis, the British marquis 
appointed an inferior officer to receive his sword; 



TWO OLD COLONIAL PLACES 191 

this affront General Washington now avenged by- 
appointing General Lincoln to receive Cornwallis's 
sword. 

When the British prime minister received the 
intelligence of the surrender, he threw up his 
hands, exclaiming, " My God ! it is all over ! " 
And it was all over — America was free. 

A hundred years have passed by since that time, 
and with natural pride the people of these United 
States are preparing to celebrate the centennial an- 
niversary of the great event which secured their in- 
dependence. Once more the little sleepy Virginia 
town, which has for a century lain as if under a 
spell, awakes with a start to find itself the centre of 
interest. 

Had the siege of Yorktown taken place a dozen 
centuries ago, the assailants, instead of hammering 
the fortifications down as fast as they were repaired, 
might have been forced to wait until the grim ally, 
starvation, compelled the besieged to capitulate. 
Even at this day the place gives evidence of its 
advantages as a fortified camp. High ramparts and 
deep fosses, which might have satisfied a Roman 
consul, surround it on three sides, and on the fourth 
is a precipitous bluff above the deep, wide York 
which could be defended by a handful. These forti- 
fications, however, have not come down from the 
Revolution ; they bear witness to a later strife. Ma- 
gruder began them in those early days of 1861, when 
each side thought the Civil War sport for a summer 



192 THE OLD SOUTH 

holiday ; and later on, when the magnitude of the 
struggle was understood, McClellan strengthened 
them. Together with the few antique brick build- 
ings with massive walls and peaked roofs, which 
have survived the assaults of three successive wars, 
and of that more insidious destro} r er, Time, they 
give the place the impressiveness of an old walled 
town. All new ways and things seem to have been 
held at bay. 

The town is about one hundred and eighty-five 
years old. It looks much older, but repeated wars 
have an aging effect. 

Its founder was Thomas Nelson, a young settler 
from Penrith, on the border of Scotland, who was 
for that reason called " Scotch Tom." His father 
was a man of substance and position in Cumberland 
and was a warden of the church in Penrith. The 
warden's son Thomas looking to the New World to 
enlarge his fortune, after making one or two trips 
across, finally settled at the mouth of York Eiver. 
Here he married Margaret Reid, and soon became 
one of the wealthiest men in the colony. His 
dwelling, known as the " Nelson House," still stands, 
with its lofty chimneys and solid walls — tower- 
ing among the surrounding buildings ; an endur- 
ing pre-eminence which would probably have grat- 
ified the pride which tradition says moved him 
to have the corner-stone passed through the hands 
of his infant heir. The massive door and small 
windows, with the solid shutters, look as if the 



TWO OLD COLONIAL PLACES 193 

house had been constructed more with a view to 
defence than to architectural grace. Within, every- 
thing is antique ; modern paint has recently, with 
doubtful success, if not propriety, attempted to 
freshen up the old English wainscoting; but the 
old-time air of the place cannot be banished. Mem- 
ory grows busy as she walks through the lofty 
rooms and recalls the scenes they have witnessed. 
Here, in " ye olden tyme," dwelt a race which grew 
to wealth and power noted even in that age, when 
the mere lapse of years, opening up the broad, wild 
lands to the westward, and multiplying the slaves, 
doubled and quadrupled their possessions without 
care or thought of the owners. Here, in this home 
of the Nelsons, have been held receptions at which 
have gathered Grymeses, Digges, Custises, Carys, 
Blands, Lees, Carters, Randolphs, Burwells, Pages, 
Byrds, Spottswoods, Harrisons, and all the gay 
gentry of the Old Dominion. Up the circular 
stone steps, where now the dust of the street lies 
thick, blushing, laughing girls have tripped, fol- 
lowed by stately mammas, over whose precious 
heads the old-time " canopies " were held by careful 
young lovers, or lordly squires whose names were 
to become as imperishable as the great Declaration 
which they subscribed. Coming down to a later 
period, a more historical interest attaches itself to 
the mansion. George Mason and Washington and 
Jefferson have slept here ; Cornwallis established 
his headquarters here during the last days of the 



194 THE OLD SOUTH 

great siege, when his first headquarters. Secretary 
Nelson's house, had been shelled to pieces. Even 
here the guns aimed by the master of the mansion, 
then Governor of Virginia ami commander-in-chief 
of her forces, reached him as the splintered rafters 
and the solid shot stuck in the wall testify. La- 
fayette, no longer the boyish adventurer with a mind 
wild with romantic dreams of the Cid, and chased 
like a fugitive by Ins sovereign, but the honored 
and revered guest of a mighty nation, returning in 
his old age to witness the greatness of the New 
World toward which his valor had so much con- 
tributed, slept here and added another to the many 
associations which already surrounded the mansion. 
Thomas Nelson, having built his house, died and 
was buried in the churchyard of the old church. 
His handsome tomb is one of the two antique mon- 
uments which, in spite of war and weather, still 
remain notable relics of old York. It stands in 
the uninclosed common near the old church on the 
bluff, not a stone's throw from the centre of the 
town. On the four sides, cherubs' faces, elaborately 
carved, look forth from clouds. Once, a crown was 
being placed on the head of one ; another, trumpet 
in mouth, was proclaiming "All glory to God," 
but the ascription under the wear and tear of time 
has disappeared. The weather and the vandal have 
marred and wasted the carving; but enough yet 
remains to show that on it some excellent sculptor 
used his utmost skill. The coat of arms on the top 



TWO OLD COLONIAL PLACES 195 

shows the fleur de lis as his crest, while the in- 
scription and heraldic insignia declare the founder 
of Yorktown to have been a " gentleman." At his 
feet, beneath a less imposing tomb, lies Scotch Tom's 
eldest son, William Nelson, called "President" 
Nelson from his having been president of the King's 
Council, and as such, during an interregnum, gov- 
ernor of the colony. At his feet, in turn, sleeps, 
in an unmarked grave, the president's eldest son, 
General Thomas Nelson, the most illustrious of the 
race, the mover in the great Virginia Convention of 
1776 of the resolution first instructing her dele- 
gates in Congress to move that body to declare the 
colonies free and independent States; — signer of 
the Declaration of Independence, war governor of 
Virginia, and one of the most brilliant of that body 
of great men who stand, a splendid galaxy, in the 
firmament of our nation's history. 

"The old store," which for two generations 
yielded the Nelsons a harvest of golden guineas, 
stood on the open space now called " the common." 
It survived the siege, but was destroyed in the War 
of 1812. The custom-house, however, where their 
goods were entered, still stands a score of yards off, 
with moss-covered, peaked roof, thick walls, and 
massive oaken doors and shutters. This is one of 
the most notable relics of York, for it is said to have 
been one of the first custom-houses erected in Amer- 
ica. In the colonial period, it was the fashionable 
rendezvous of the gentlemen of the town and sur- 



196 THE OLD SOUTH 

rounding country. There the young bucks in vel- 
vet and ruffles gathered to talk over the news or to 
plan new plots of surprising a governor or a lady- 
love. It was there that the haughty young aristo- 
crats, as they took snuff and fondled their hounds, 
probably laughed over the story of how that young 
Washington, who had thought himself good enough 
for anybody, had courted pretty Mary Gary, and 
had been asked out of the house by the old colonel, 
on the ground that his daughter had been accus- 
tomed to ride in her own coach. There it was 
doubtless told how Tom Jefferson, leaving his 
clients and studies on the Eivanna, had come back 
to try his fate at Becky Burwell's dainty feet, 
and had been sent off for much-needed consolation 
to his old friend and crony, John Page, who had 
just induced little Frances, her cousin, to come and 
be mistress of Bosewell. Sometimes graver topics 
were discussed there; as, whether the Metropoli- 
tan's license and the recommendation of the gov- 
ernor were sufficient to override the will of the ves- 
tries in fixing an obnoxious rector in the parishes ; 
whether Great Britain had a right to a monopoly 
of the colonial trade, or whether she could lawfully 
prevent them inhibiting the landing of slaves in 
their ports, with other questions which showed the 
direction of the popular mind. 

It would be difficult to find a fitter illustration of 
the old colonial Virginia life than that which this 
little town affords. It was a typical Old Dominion 



TWO OLD COLONIAL PLACES 197 

borough, and was one of the eight boroughs into 
which Virginia was originally divided. One or two 
families owned the place, ruling with a sway despotic 
in fact, though in the main temperate and just, for 
the lower orders were too dependent and inert to 
dream of thwarting the " gentlefolk," and the South- 
erner when uncrossed was ever the most amiable of 
men. If there were more than one great family, they 
nevertheless got on amicably, for they had usually 
intermarried until their interests were identical. 

Nearly all the " old " families in the colony were 
allied, and the clannish instinct was as strong as 
among the Scotch. The ambition of the wealthy 
families in the colony, perhaps more than the 
usually accepted aristocratic instinct, excluded from 
the circle all who did not come up to their some- 
what difficult standard. Government was their 
passion, and everything relating to it interested 
them. It was the only matter which excited them, 
and every other feeling took its tone from this. It 
influenced them in all their relations, domestic as 
well as public. Even and smooth as seemed the tem- 
perament of the nonchalant, languid Virginian, — 
not splenitive or rash, — yet had it in it something 
dangerous. His political opinions were sacred to 
him ; he had inherited them from his father, whom 
he regarded as the impersonation of wisdom and vir- 
tue. To oppose them roused him at once, and made 
him intolerant and violent. He could not brook 
opposition. The feeling has not altogether dis» 



198 THE OLD SOUTH 

appeared even at the present day. Yet, singular as 
it may seem, with this existed the deeply ingrained 
love of liberty and devotion to principle from which 
sprang the constitutional securities of liberty of 
speech, freedom of the press, the right to bear arms, 
and the statute of religious freedom. 

In York, the Nelson family was the acknowledged 
leader in county affairs. President Nelson had 
sent his eldest son, Tom, when a lad of fourteen, 
to Eton, where he was a desk-mate of Charles James 
Fox, and afterward to Cambridge, where he was 
graduated with some distinction. The style in 
which the president of the Council lived is ex- 
hibited by the casual remark, in a letter written to 
a friend who was in charge of this son, that he had 
just bought Lord Baltimore's six white coach-horses, 
and meant to give his own six black ones a run in 
his Hanover pastures. In 1761, the young squire 
came home ; and it shows the influence of his family 
that, while yet on his voyage across, he was returned 
as a member of the House of Burgesses. About 
a year afterwards, he married Lucy Grymes, the 
eldest daughter of Colonel Philip Grymes, of 
Brandon, in Middlesex. The Grymeses enjoyed 
the reputation of being the cleverest family in the 
Dominion. Little Lucy was a cousin of Light- 
Horse Harry Le© and of Thomas Jefferson. An 
old MS. states that the latter was one of her many 
lovers, but the story appears to lack confirmation, 
as the lady denied it even in after years. 



TWO OLD COLONIAL PLACES 199 

During the years that followed, York maintained 
her position as an influential borough in the direc- 
tion of affairs. When the crisis came, Secretary 
Thomas Nelson, "the President's" younger brother, 
was at the head of the moderate party. He received 
in the Convention forty-five votes for Virginia's 
first governor, but was beaten by Patrick Henry. 
He was, however, put in the Privy Council. The 
Marquis de Chastillux gives a pretty picture of the 
old gray-haired gentleman being brought out of 
York under a flag of truce by his two sons, officers 
in Washington's army. His nephew and namesake, 
Thomas Nelson, Jr., was one of the leaders of the 
ultra patriots, and with his cousin and connection, 
Dudley Digges, took so conspicuous a part in the 
early revolutionary action of the State, that Captain 
Montague, the commander of the British ship Fowey, 
threatened to bombard York. The manifestation 
of the Virginians' anger took a singular turn, which 
at the same time shows the naive character of the 
old Virginia gentry. They solemnly resolved that 
this officer's action had been so inhuman that he 
should not be further recognized as a gentleman. It 
is possible that however determined the men were 
not to recognize Captain Montague, the women 
were less resolute, as he was remarkable for his 
great personal beauty, — so remarkable, indeed, 
that it was said Lord Dunmore's daughter, Lady 
Augusta Murray, who afterward married the Duke 
of Sussex, and who was herself declared to be the 



200 THE OLD SOUTH 

handsomest woman in the three kingdoms, used to 
repeat at the end of each verse in the 136th Psalm, 
whenever it occurred in the church service : 

Praise Montague, Captain of the Fowey, 
For his beauty endureth forever. 

Dudley Digges, young Nelson's colleague in the 
House of Burgesses, was a member of the Privy 
Council, and of the Committee of Safety, He was 
the worthy lineal descendant of that brave Sir 
Dudley who flung at Charles the First's powerful 
and insolent favorite, Buckingham, the retort, " Do 
you jeer, my lord ? I can show you where a greater 
man than your lordship, as high in power, and as 
deep in the king's favor, has been hanged for as 
small a crime as these articles contain." 

Such was York, the patriotic little Virginia town 
into which Cornwallis retired in the summer of 
1781, when he received orders from Sir Henry 
Clinton to intrench himself on the coast and await 
instructions. At this time it boasted among its citi- 
zens the governor of the State, for young Nelson 
had attained the highest dignity in Virginia. He 
had been one of the leaders in the great move- 
ment which had separated the colonies from the 
mother country. He had been a conspicuous mem- 
ber of all the great conventions. He had made the 
motion in committee of the whole in May, 1776, that 
Virginia should instruct her delegates in Congress 
to try and induce that body to declare the United 



TWO OLD COLONIAL PLACES 201 

Colonies free and independent States ; he had him- 
self carried this instruction to Philadelphia; he had, 
as one of Virginia's delegates, signed the great 
Declaration ; and now he had been chosen to take 
the chief control of the State, and, with almost dic- 
tatorial powers, to manage both her military and civil 
polity. " His popularity was unbounded," says the 
historian. Certainly his patriotism was. The father 
of a modern English statesman, speaking of his 
son's free-trade views, said he might be exalting the 
nation, but he was ruining his family. The same 
criticism might have been passed on General Nel- 
son's administration. His patriotism was of a 
nature that now strikes one as rather antique. 
When money was wanted to pay the troops and 
run the government, Virginia's credit was low, but 
the governor was told that he could have plenty 
on his personal security, so he borrowed the sum 
needed, and went on; when regiments mutinied 
and refused to march, the governor simply drove 
over to Petersburg, raised the money on his indi- 
vidual credit, and paid them off. Consequently, 
when the war closed, what old George Mason 
declared he would be willing to say his nunc di- 
mittis on, viz. the heritage to his children of a crust 
of bread and liberty, had literally befallen Governor 
Nelson. 

When it was discovered that Cornwallis was 
marching on York, the feelings of the inhabitants 
were doubtless not enviable. Arnold had not long 



202 THE OLD SOUTH 

before swept over the State, with a traitor's rancor, 
leaving red ruin in his track. Colonel Tarleton, 
Cornwallis's lieutenant, had procured for himself 
a not very desirable reputation, having an eye for a 
good horse and a likely negro, and a conscience not 
over scrupulous about the manner of obtaining them. 
Arnold was so much dreaded that, when he was 
expected to fall on York, Mrs. Nelson, the gen- 
eral's wife, with her young children, fled to the 
upper country. On this occasion it was that Jimmy 
Ridout, the carriage driver, in emulation of Cacus, 
had his horses shod at night with the shoes reversed, 
so that if they were followed their pursuers might 
be misled. When Cornwallis marched on York, 
Mrs. Nelson once more set out for her upper plan- 
tations in Hanover. 

Cornwallis, expecting additional forces from Sir 
Henry Clinton, fortified himself in York. His let- 
ter to his chief, conveying the announcement of his 
surrender, declares that he never saw this post in a 
very favorable light, and nothing but the hope of re- 
lief would have induced him to attempt its defence. 
This letter gave mortal offence to the superior offi- 
cer, who was sensible of the justice of the grave 
charge so delicately conveyed. He had sacrificed his 
subordinate and the last chances of Great Britain. 

Strolling over the green fields at present, it requires 
an effort to picture the scenes they witnessed one 
hundred years ago. There are fortifications still 
standing, green with blackberry bushes and young 



TWO OLD COLONIAL PLACES 203 

locusts, but they tell of a more recent strife ; the 
Revolutionary earthworks have totally disappeared, 
except on " Secretary's Hill," where formerly stood 
Secretary Nelson's fine house, in which Cornwallis 
first established his headquarters. A few signs 
are still discernible there, due to the possible fact 
that his lordship had his headquarters protected 
by works of unusual strength. If this be the 
explanation, the precaution proved futile, for when 
it was known in the Eevolutionary camp that it 
was the British commander's headquarters, the 
house was made their special mark, and was almost 
demolished. The butler was killed in the act of 
placing a dish on the dinner-table. 

Outside the town, there are several spots which 
may be accurately fixed. Up the river, on the rise 
beyond the small, dull stream, to the left of the 
Williamsburg road going out, were posted the 
French batteries — the regiments of Touraine, Age- 
nois, and Gatinois — the Royal Auvergne — "Au- 
vergne sans tacJie." On the creek, a little nearer the 
town, fell Scammel on the first day of the siege, 
treacherously shot in the back after he had surren- 
dered, which " cast a gloom over the camp." His 
death was avenged afterward by his troops, as they 
charged over the redoubts with the battle-cry, " Re- 
member Scammel ! " Below the town, on the other 
side, the redoubts were stormed and taken at night 
by the picked troops of the French and American 
armies. The short grass now grows smooth over 



204 THE OLD SOUTH 

the spot where the Royal Auvergne won back their 
lost name and fame ; but as we stand where they 
stood that night with empty guns, panting to use the 
bayonet, steadfast though their ranks were being 
mowed down in the darkness, we feel stirred as 
though it had all occurred but yesterday. Mean- 
time the American stormers of the other redoubt, 
led by the dashing young Colonel Alexander Hamil- 
ton, had plunged through the abatis and gained 
their prize. What a speech that must have been 
which the young officer made his men as he halted 
them under the walls ! 

" Did you ever hear such a speech ? " asked one 
officer of another. "With that speech I could 
storm hell ! " 

The striking incidents of the siege were not very 
numerous. It was a steady and unreceding ad- 
vance on one side and retrogression on the other ; 
but this particular night was somewhat noted for 
its romantic episodes. When Hamilton, arrived 
inside his redoubt, sent to inform the French leader 
of the other storming party of the fact and to in- 
quire if he was in his, "No, but I will be in five 
minutes," he answered, and he kept his word. Many 
a blue lapel was stained with heart blood ; but their 
king wrote with his own hand, " Bon pour Royal 
Auvergne" and posterity says, Amen ! They died 
not in vain. " The work is done and well done," 
said Washington, when the signal was given that 
the redoubts were won. 



TWO OLD COLONIAL PLACES 205 

A few days before this eventful night, the gov- 
ernor of Virginia, who was present in person, com- 
manding the Virginia State forces, had displayed 
his patriotism by an act which attracted much 
attention. Observing that his own house within 
the town had escaped injury from the shells, he 
learned that General Washington had given orders 
that the gunners should not aim at it. He im- 
mediately had a gun turned on it, and offered a 
prize of five guineas to the gunner who should 
strike it. 

Three-quarters of a mile back of the two captured 
redoubts, and outside of the first parallel, stood, 
and still stands, an old weather-board and weather- 
stained mansion. Its antique roof, its fireplaces 
set across the corners, and its general old-time air, 
even a hundred years ago, bespoke for it reverence 
as a relic of a long bygone age. It was historical 
even then, for it had been the country residence of 
Governor Spottswood, who had been the great 
Marlborough's aide-de-camp, and the best royal gov- 
ernor of the colony. He had come, bringing his 
virtues and his graces, to the Old Dominion, and 
had in the quaint old house on the river bank held 
his mimic court, forming royal plans for the devel- 
opment of the kingly domain he ruled, entertaining 
his knights of the Golden Horseshoe, drinking 
healths which amaze even this not over temperate 
generation. He established the first iron foundry 
ever erected on American soil. 



206 THE OLD SOUTH 

Hither his body was brought from Maryland, 
where he died. But one hundred years ago, to the 
many associations connected with the old house 
was added one which to this generation dwarfs all 
others. In its sitting-room were drawn up the 
articles of capitulation of the British army, by 
which was ended the strife, and the colonies be- 
came free and independent States. Imagination 
almost always paints in high colors the scene of 
any great act in the world's drama, but a milder 
and more peaceful picture can scarcely be conceived 
than that which this spot now presents. The house 
was owned at the time of the surrender by Mrs. 
Moore, " Aunt Moore," as she was called by nearly 
all the people of York. It is now unoccupied, and 
the cellar has been utilized as a stable. About it 
the mild-eyed Alderneys browse the white clover, or 
gaze sleepily at the unwonted pilgrim. The river 
sleeps just beyond, in the summer sunshine, with 
a single white sail set like a pearl on its bosom. 
The spot looks an "ancient haunt of peace," but war 
has stalked about it since first the English came. 
The peaceful-looking hedges beyond the old orchard, 
and on the bluff, are breastworks overgrown with 
bushes. The great Civil War, the War of 1812, 
and the Revolution, all have passed over these 
green, quiet fields ; and yonder in the " Temple " 
lies the relic of a still older strife — the grave of a 
soldier who had won his laurels and lain down his 
sword long before Sir Alexander Spottswood earned 



TWO OLD COLONIAL PLACES 207 

his spurs at Blenheim. A mystery of more ancient 
date than the Kevolution hangs about the spot, 
and is associated with the name. Some authorities 
state that Governor Spottswood built a temple of 
worship here, whence came the name of the planta- 
tion, " Temple Farm " ; but the Temple is doubtless 
of older date than this account would make us be- 
lieve. The more probable explanation is that the 
building, whose foundations alone remain at present, 
was erected in the early days of the colony. The 
double walls, one within the other, give credit to 
the story that it was so built for defence against 
the Indians, and the date on Major Gooch's tomb, 
October, 1655, corroborates it. The tomb of the 
royal governor has long since disappeared. A frag- 
ment of Major Gooch's epitaph remains. It reads: 

Within this tomb there doth interred lie, 
No shape hut substance, true nobility, 
Itself though young in years, just twenty-nine, 
Yet grac'd with virtues morall and divine, 
The church from him did good participate. 
In counsell rare fit to adorn a state. 

Could the young soldier have had a fitter resting- 
place or a better epitaph ? 

Eight below the Temple sleeps Wormley's 
Creek, with its myriad water-lilies resting on its 
tranquil breast; and not a hundred yards above 
stands the modern successor to the mill, where the 
first shot in the siege was fired. The old structure 



208 THE OLD SOUTH 

has disappeared, but the old customs still remain. 
Here, twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays (for it 
takes three days to " catch a head of water "), come 
the negroes and country folk, bringing their "turns" 
of corn, some in bags on their heads, or, if they are 
of larger means and appetites, in little carts with 
generally a single bull harnessed in the shafts. 
The established rule of " each in his turn ' • prevails, 
and they wait patiently, sometimes the livelong 
day, until their time comes. They are not in a 
hurry; for a hundred years this same life has 
gone on as placid and serene as the stream down 
among the " cow collards " ; to hurry would be to 
violate the most ancient and time-honored tradition 
of the fathers. 

It is easy to see that "Little York" never re- 
covered from its bombardment. The scene in the 
street to-day is an idyl, — a few massive old brick 
houses scattered among modern shanties like so 
many old-time gentlemen at a modern ward-meet- 
ing ; a couple of negro children kicking up the dust 
in the street a hundred yards away ; two citizens 
sitting under an awning " resting," and a small ox- 
cart moving uncertainly nearer, as the little brindled 
bull in the shafts browses the short grass on the 
side of the street. The most lively things in sight 
are a small, boy and the string of fish he is carry- 
ing ; for the latter have just come from the water 
and are still fluttering. Such is the scene now pre- 
sented in the street where a hundred years ago 



TWO OLD COLONIAL PLACES 209 

anxious red-coats double-quicked along or stole 
sullenly by, trying to shelter themselves from the 
searching messengers from the batteries out on the 
heights beyond the creeks. 

The Nelson house still remains in the family ; 
but to the Nelsons, peace came with poverty ; the 
governor's vast estate went for his public debts. 
He gave the whole of it. When a question arose 
in the Virginia Convention as to the confiscation of 
British claims, he stopped the agitation by rising 
in his seat, and declaiming, " Others may do as they 
please ; but as for me, I am an honest man, and so 
help me God ! I will pay my debts." Years after- 
ward, Virginia did tardy and partial justice to the 
memory of Nelson's great services by placing his 
statue among the group of her great ones in her 
beautiful Capitol Square; and, in company with 
Washington, Jefferson, Marshall, Henry, Mason, 
and Lewis, he stands in bronze tendering the bonds 
with his outstretched hands, in perpetuam rei me- 
moriam. No recompense, however, was ever made 
to the family for the vast sums Governor Nelson 
had expended, and his widow, once the wealthiest 
woman in the colony, was left blind in her old age, 
with only one piece of property, her children's 
mammy. Some forty or fifty years after his death, 
evidence of his great losses was collected for the 
purpose of applying to Congress for compensation ; 
but a bill being brought in meantime for the relief 
of the widow of the young colonel who made the 



210 THE OLD SOUTH 

speech to his storming party that night undei the 
walls of the redoubt at Yorktown, and who had 
rendered besides some other small services to the 
country, a member asked if there were no poor- 
houses in New York, that Mrs. Hamilton came 
begging to Congress ; and after that, one of Gov- 
ernor Nelson's sons, who was in Congress at the 
time, refused to proceed further in the matter, de- 
claring that he would not permit his mother's name 
to be brought before a body which tolerated such a 
speech. 

It seems extraordinary that, after only a hundred 
years, much doubt exists as to the actual spot where 
the British laid down their arms. Immediately 
after the surrender, Congress enacted that a suit- 
able monument should be erected there, to tell the 
story to succeeding generations. But all things 
concerning Yorktown sleep, and the memorial was 
neglected until the very spot was forgotten. There 
was built up, however, a mighty nation, zealous for 
liberty, 

Monumsntum aere perenniua 
Regalique situ pyramidum altius. 

This was, to use the closing words of the articles 
of Cornwallis's capitulation, " done in the trenches 
before Yorktown, in Virginia, October 19th, 1781." 



II 

ROSEWELL 

As York, the territory of the Nelsons, witnessed 
the last act in Virginia's colonial drama, so Eose- 
well, the seat of the Pages, saw the first act. The 
places are only a few miles apart, bnt are separated 
by the York River. 

Taking a small boat at the Yorktown pier, you 
may, by promising an extra quarter, wake the leth- 
argic boatman into positive activity, and get under 
way to Gloucester Point in something under a half- 
hour. Your boatman, as black as Charon, rows with 
a deliberation which would gratify you if cross- 
ing the Styx. You are apt to question him about 
the surrender. Oh, yes ! he knows all about it. 
If his immediate predecessor, " Old Unc' Felix," 
who was gathered last fall to his fathers at the age 
of sixty-five years, and whose funeral sermon was 
preached last Sunday, were alive, he would have 
assured you that he remembered all about the siege 
of Yorktown, and waited on both Generals Wash- 
ington and Cornwallis. 

After a while you reach Gloucester Point, liter- 
ally a " point," and tread the ground invested by 

211 



212 THE OLD SOUTH 

Weedon, De Choisy, and the dashing, bragging De 
Lauzun. 

A ride of a few miles up the river bank brings 
you to an old place called Shelly, once a part of 
the Rosewell estate, and still owned by Governor 
Page's descendants. However appropriate the 
name may seem, in view of the great beds of shell 
down on the river bank, it does not call up the 
associations connected with the name borne by the 
place in colonial days — " Werowocomoco." Next 
to Jamestown, this plantation is perhaps the spot 
most celebrated in the colonial annals of Virginia. 
It was here that Powhatan reigned like Egbert of 
old, with kings, less poetic but not more savage, to 
pull his canoe. Between his wives, his enemies, 
and his English friends, the old Werowance had a 
hard time. Doubtless he found much consolation 
in his oysters. And judging from the mounds of 
oyster-shells, those Indians must have had royal ap- 
petites. It was at this place that the most romantic 
incident of Virginia's history occurred, when the 
little tender-hearted Indian maiden, touched with 
pity for an intrepid young captive, prayed in vain 
for his life, and then flung herself beneath the 
executioners' axes and clasped the victim in her 
arms, risking her own life, but saving John Smith 
and the colony of Virginia. 

Other memories cluster around the place : of the 
ghastly decorations of Payanketank scalps; the 
ballet dance of Indian nymphs attired in the most 



TWO OLD COLONIAL PLACES 213 

ancient of recorded costumes ; the coronation of old 
Powhatan, who with royal instinct refused to stoop 
while the crown was placed on his head. The 
whole place is quick with memories. 

It has always been my opinion that the world 
has not done justice to Captain John Smith. He 
deserves to be ranked with the greatest explorers 
of all time. At the age of thirty he had left the 
Virginias and returned to England, having accom- 
plished what Raleigh, with all his wealth, power, 
and zeal, could not do. Well might the old chron- 
icles call him "the Father of the Colony." Had 
the die turned differently on the spot where we 
now stand, Virginia might have lain a hundred 
years more a wilderness and a waste place, and the 
destinies of the world have been different. Until a 
few years ago one might have said of " oure Cap- 
taine " as the Spartan said to a Sophist offering to 
deliver a eulogy on Hercules — " Why, who has 
ever blamed Hercules ? " But of late the wise 
critics have attacked him virulently. Here, how- 
ever, is what was said of him by one who had 
shared his dangers : 

" What shall I say but thus ; we lost him that in 
all his proceedings made justice his first guide and 
experience his second, ever hating baseness, sloath, 
pride and indignitie more than any dangers ; that 
never allowed more for himselfe than his souldiers 
with him ; that upon no dangers would send them 
where he would not lead them himselfe ; that would 



214 THE OLD SOUTH 

never see vs want what he either had, or could by 
any means get vs ; that would rather want then bor- 
row, or starve then not pay ; that loved action more 
then words, and hated falshood and covetousness 
worse than death ; whose adventures were our lives, 
and whose losse our deaths." 

A few miles below here on the bluff the Powha- 
tan's Chimney, the sole remaining relic of the 
royalty of the old Indian king. It stood until a 
few years ago, when owing to our shameful neglect 
of all things historical, it fell and now it lies 
prone. It had the honor of being built by Cap- 
tain Smith, and was erected on the requisition of 
the Emperor for "a house, a grind-stone, fifty 
swords, some guns, a cock and hen, with much 
copper and many beads." The fireplace is wide 
enough to roast an ox, and there is grave sus- 
picion that it has served to roast other cattle — 
Payanketank rebels and the like. All this land 
about here was a part of the old Page estate, Pose- 
well. Away to the left it stretches, taking in all 
of Timber Neck, which came to the Pages in 1690 
with Mary Mann, whom Matthew Page married. 

That broad stream down there is Carter's Creek. 
There it was that Powhatan and his people used to 
land in pre-colonial days, and brown canoes, driven 
by dark warriors or dusky maidens, shot in and out. 
Later on, in the spring evenings, white-winged sail- 
boats, with proud-faced dames and portly, ruddy 
gentlemen, or with laughing girls in rich attire, and 



TWO OLD COLONIAL PLACES 215 

gay young gallants, glided to and fro, now drifting 
wide apart, now near together, side by side, amid 
mirth and shouts and laughter. 

Across the creek, a hundred yards, stands Eose- 
well, the ancient Page mansion, massive, stark, and 
lonely, a solid cube of ninety feet. Once it had long 
colonnades and ample wings, the ruins of which latter 
yet stand, and it was flanked by great and numer- 
ous out-buildings — stables, barns, warehouses, and 
negro quarters. All have vanished before the years, 
and nothing is left except the stately old mansion. 

When it was built in 1725-30, it was the largest 
mansion in Virginia, and continued such for many 
years. Indeed, there are but few as large now. 
The great hall was wainscoted with mahogany, 
and the balustrade of the grand stairway, also 
of mahogany, was beautifully carved by hand to 
represent baskets of fruit, flowers, etc. The roof 
over the windows was originally covered with lead, 
but during the Eevolution it was stripped off for 
bullets by its master, the fiery patriot, John Page, 
who presented the lead to the State and was 
hardly persuaded at last to receive for it even con- 
tinental money. The letter of Edmund Pendleton 
regarding it is still in existence. The master of 
Rosewell came out of the war with broken for- 
tunes, his large plantations going one after another 
to pay his debts. Shortly after his death, the 
place was sold for twelve thousand dollars to a 
man, who after making a fortune by selling every- 



216 THE OLD SOUTH 

thing lie could sell, from the trees on the lawn to 
the wainscoting in the hall, sold the place, stripped 
and denuded as it was, at a large advance. The 
vandal not only sold the bricks around the grave- 
yard, and the fine old cedars in the avenue, but what 
was even worse, whitewashed the superb carved 
mahogany wainscoting and balustrade. Once again 
it is in the hands of gentlefolk. 

There is a tradition that Thomas Jefferson, while 
absent from his seat in Congress in 1775-76, spent 
some time at this house, in reflection and study, 
crystallizing into worthy expression those principles 
which he was shortly afterward to set forth in the 
" Great Declaration." It is said that he then sub- 
mitted his rough draft of that great paper to his 
friend John Page before it was seen by any one 
else, and when independence was no more than a 
possibility. There was then a summer-house on 
the roof, and the place where it stood is pointed 
out as the spot where the paper was read and dis- 
cussed. There is, perhaps, nothing to substantiate 
the legend, except that it has always been one of 
the traditions of the house. 

The founder of the Page family in Virginia was 
" Collonel John Page," who, thinking that a princi- 
pality in Utopia might prove better than an acre 
in Middlesex, where he resided, came over in 1656. 
He came from the pretty little village of Bedfont, 
Middlesex, where the Pages had for generations 
been lords of the small manor of Pate, and where 



TWO OLD COLONIAL PLACES 217 

they lie buried in the chancel of the quaint little 
Norman church. He was a literary man, and in 
his latter days wrote a book of religious medita- 
tions which he dedicated to his son. It was entitled 
"A Deed of Gift," and is written in the quaint and 
earnest style of the seventeenth century. It shows 
him to have been a man of no mean ability and of 
deep piety. He gave the land on which is built the 
old church in Williamsburgh, and a fragment of his 
tombstone recording his virtues used to lie across 
the walk doing service as a paving flag until a few 
years ago, when it was removed by a pious descend- 
ant to the interior of the church, and a monument 
was erected to his memory. He had an eye for 
"bottom-land," and left his son Matthew an im- 
mense landed estate, which he dutifully increased 
by marrying Mary Mann, the rich heiress of Tim- 
ber Neck. Their son, Mann, was a lad thirteen 
years old when his father died. After being sent 
to Eton, he came back and took his place at the 
"Council Board," as his fathers had done before 
him and his descendants did after him. 

Mann Page built the Kosewell mansion. The 
bricks and material were all brought from England, 
and the stately pile grew slowly under the Virginia 
sun to be a marvel of pride and beauty for that 
time. The long inscription upon the tomb " piously 
erected to his memory by his mournfully surviving 
lady " presents a complete biography of Mann, who, 
together with his pride, possessed the independence, 



218 THE OLD SOUTH 

the dignity, and the virtue so often found combined 
in the old colonial gentleman. He possessed the 
colonial instinct, and fought the tax which the home 
government wished to place on tobacco. The tradi- 
tion is that he died just as he completed the man- 
sion, and that the first time the house was used 
was when his body was laid out in the great hall. 
The three surviving sons of Mann were Mann, John, 
and Bobert, who became the heads respectively of 
the Rosewell, the North End, and the Broadneck 
branches of the family. Mann's eldest son, John, was 
a most ardent patriot, and would undoubtedly have 
been hanged if General Washington had surren- 
dered to Cornwallis, instead of the latter to him. 
He and Thomas Jefferson were at William and 
Mary College together, and that closest of bonds, a 
college friendship, commenced there and lasted 
throughout their lives. As college students, they 
together stood at the door of the House of Bur- 
gesses, and, looking in, heard Patrick Henry ring 
out his famous warning to George III. From that 
time, the two young men were rebels, and their 
views were of the most advanced order. There re- 
main a number of rattling " college-boy " letters 
which passed between the cronies at a time when 
the light of the world, to them, were "Nancy's" 
and " Belinda's " eyes, and Fame's siren voice had 
not sounded in their ears. In a letter bearing date 
Christmas Day, 1762, Jefferson, frozen up in his 
Albemarle home, wrote his friend : 



TWO OLD COLONIAL PLACES 219 

" You cannot conceive the satisfaction it would 
give me to have a letter from you. Write me 
circumstantially everything which happened at the 
wedding. Was she there ? Because, if she was, I 
ought to have been at the devil for not being there 
too." 

The " she " alluded to was his ladylove, Miss 
Rebecca Burwell. The letter goes on : 

" Tell Miss Alice Corbin that I verily believe 
the rats knew I was to win a pair of garters from her, 
or they never would have been so cruel as to carry 
mine away. This very consideration makes me so 
sure of the bet that I shall ask everybody I see 
from that part of the world what pretty gentleman 
is making his addresses to her. I would fain ask 
Miss Becca Burwell to give me another watch paper 
of her own cutting, which I should esteem much 
more, though it were a plain round one, than the 
nicest in the world cut by other hands." 

A few weeks later, he writes to his friend a 
mournful, woful epistle, like that of any other love- 
lorn swain. After inveighing against the dulness 
of his life, he says : 

" How have you done since I saw you ? How 
did Xancy look at you when you danced with her 
at Southall's ? Have you any glimmering of hope ? 
How does R. B. do ? Had I better stay here and 
do nothing, or go down and do less ? Or, in other 
words, had I better stay here while I am here or go 
down, that I may have the pleasure of sailing up the 



220 THE OLD SOUTH 

river again in a full-rigged flat ? Inclination tells 
me to go, receive my sentence, and be no longer in 
suspense ; but reason says, if you go, and your at- 
tempt proves unsuccessful, you will be ten times 
more "wretched than ever. ... I hear that Ben Harri- 
son has been to Wilton. Let me know his success." 

Ben Harrison's success at Wilton, where he was 
courting Anne Randolph, a cousin of both Jefferson 
and Page, was greater than that of either the writer 
of the letter with " R. B." or of the recipient with 
"Nancy." Miss Anne, after leading her lover a 
reasonable dance, married him, and had the honor of 
being the wife of a governor of Virginia. " Nancy " 
and " Little Becky " might themselves have sat in 
even higher places than they did sit in had they 
only smiled a little more on their lovers. Cupid, 
however, lacks the gift of prophecy ; and Fame will 
not tell her secrets till the time comes, for the 
sweetest lips that ever smiled. 

Young Page, having failed with Nancy, found 
consolation at the feet of his sweet cousin, Frances 
Burwell, daughter of Colonel Burwell of Carter's 
Creek, and the niece of President and Secretary 
Nelson. When quite a young man he became a 
member of the King's Council and of the Board of 
Trustees of the College, and represented that insti- 
tution in the General Assembly. 

When the storm came, Page, although the young- 
est member of the King's Council, was the head of 
the Republican element in the Council. He repre- 



TWO OLD COLONIAL PLACES 221 

sented Gloucester in the Great Convention, was 
elected president of the Privy Council, and was a 
member of the Committee of Safety that had control 
of the Virginia forces. He served as a colonel in 
the army. He was also a member of the first Con- 
gress, and continued a representative from Virginia 
for eight years, and until, as he said, John Adams 
and Alexander Hamilton shut him out. 

He was a man of great culture as well as of large 
wealth. His classical library was probably as fine 
us any in the colonies ; and he was, for his time, a 
man of scientific attainments. His calculations of 
eclipses still exist, and it indicates the spirit of the 
period, that he made them not for Virginia, but 
" for Kosewell." He was a stanch Republican, and 
the selection of Virginia's famous motto, Sic Sem- 
per Tyrannis, and of the figure of Liberty on our 
coin was due to him. 

Like their kinsmen, the Nelsons, the Pages were 
Episcopalians, living after the straitest sect of their 
religion so strictly that they were regarded as the 
pillars of the establishment in the colony. Yet, 
great as was their love for the Church, their love of 
liberty was not less, and they took an active part in 
the disestablishment. The purity of their motives 
will be understood when it is learned that the fami- 
lies were such rigid churchmen that Mrs. General 
Nelson never was in a " meeting-house " in her life, 
and never heard a " dissenter " preach, except 
when, being present with her husband in Philadel- 



222 THE OLD SOUTH 

phia, in July, 1776, her patriotism overcame her 
principles, and she went to hear Doctor Wither- 
spoon preach before Congress. 

John Page was a great churchman, and was 
urged to stand for orders and take the Virginia 
mitre when it was first decided to send a bishop to 
the colony, but he declined. The importunity of 
his friends at length worried him so, that he said 
" he'd be damned if he would be their bishop " — 
a resolution this expression of which probably 
saved him further trouble on that score. 

After the Revolution, the master of Rosewell 
became governor of Virginia, and continued to be 
re-elected until, after three terms, he became in- 
eligible by constitutional limitation. 

So long as the master lived, Rosewell, although 
mortgaged for debts contracted for the cause of 
liberty, was kept up, a grand old Virginia mansion, 
open to all, gentle and simple, the home of hospi- 
tality more boundless than the wealth of all its 
owners. But after that it passed out of the family. 
It is, perhaps, the most interesting, as it is the 
largest, colonial relic in the South. 

The following sketch of Colonel John Page 
of Rosewell, sometime governor of the Common- 
wealth of Virginia, was written by him in the form 
of a letter to Skelton Jones, Esq., of Richmond, 
Virginia. It was in answer to one which was 
addressed to Colonel Page, dated August, 1808, 



TWO OLD COLONIAL PLACES 223 

submitting certain queries concerning his life, char- 
acter, etc., and requesting him to give answers 
thereto, which might be embodied in a narrative, 
and published in a work which Mr. Jones was 
about to issue from the press, probably the contin- 
uation of Burke's " History of Virginia." 

I was born on the 17th day of April, old style, Anno 
Domini, 1743, at Kosewell. I discover from the tomb 
stones in Williamsburg Churchyard, and from others in 
my Grandfather's burying ground, at his family seat, Rose- 
well, 1st, that one of my ancestors named John Page, 
was a highly respectable character, and had long been 
one of the King's Council in this Colony, when he died, 
viz. on the 23d January, 1691-2 ; his manuscripts which I 
have seen, prove that he was learned and pious. 2d. That 
his Son Matthew Page, was one of the Council, and his 
Son Mann also, whose letters to his friends, and theirs to 
him, exhibit as a patriotic, well educated, and truly ami- 
able gentleman. He had his classical education at Eton 
school in England. He was my father's father, who might 
also have been appointed to the office of a Councillor, 
but he declined it in favour of his younger brother John 
Page, who, my father said, having been brought up in the 
study of the law regularly, was a much more proper per- 
son for that office than he was. The John Page above 
first mentioned was, as we find by an old picture, a Sir 
John Page, a merchant of London, supposed to have been 
knighted, as Sir John Randolph long after was, for pro- 
posing a regulation of the Tobacco trade and a duty 
thereon. Which if it was the case, I think his patriotism 
was premature, and perhaps misplaced ; his dear, pure 
minded, and American patriotic grand son, my grandfather, 
Mann Page, in his days checked the British Merchants from 



224 THE OLD SOUTH 

claiming even freight on their goods from England, declaring 
that their freight on our Tobacco, and homeward bound 
articles, added to their monopoly of our Trade, ought to 
satisfy avarice itself: this he expressed repeatedly to his 
mercantile friends, and some near relations who were To- 
bacco merchants in London ; however he lived not long 
after ! The fashion or practice then was for men of landed 
property here, to dispose of their children in the following 
manner: they entailed all their lands on their eldest son, 
brought up their others, according to their genius and dis- 
position, physicians, or lawyers, or merchants, or ministers 
of the church of England, which commonly maintained 
such as were frugal and industrious. My father was fre- 
quently urged by friends, but not relations, to pay court to 
Sir Gregory Page, whose heir from his Coat of Arms, and 
many circumstances, he was supposed to be. But he de- 
spised titles sixty years ago, as much as you and I do 
now; and would have nothing to say to the rich silly 
Knight, who died, leaving his estate and title to a sillier 
man than himself, his sister's son, a Mr. Turner, on con- 
dition that he would take the name and title of Sir Gregory 
Page, which he did by act of Parliament, as I was told, or read. 
I was early taught to read and write, by the care and 
attention of my grandmother, one of the most sensible, and 
best informed women I ever knew. She was a daughter of 
the Hon. Kobert Carter, who was President of the King's 
Council, and Secretary of Virginia, and who at the same 
time, held the rich office of Proprietor of the Northern neck, 
by purchase, from the Lord Proprietor, his friend, who was 
contented to receive but 300L per annum for it, as the re- 
port in the family stated. My Grandmother excited in my 
mind an inquisitiveness, which, whenever it was proper, she 
gratified, and very soon I became so fond of reading, that I 
read not only all the little amusing and instructing books 
which she put in my hands, but many which I took out of 



TWO OLD COLONIAL PLACES 225 

my father's and grandfather's collection, which was no 
contemptible library. 

But in the year 1752, when I was nine years old, my 
father put me into a grammar school, at the glebe house of 
our parish, where the Rev'd Mr. Wm, Yates had under- 
taken the tuition of twelve scholars. I found there Lewis 
Willis (the late Col. L. W.) of Fredericksburg, Edward 
Carter, (his brother, Charles Carter of Shirley, had just left 
this school and gone to William and Mary College,) Severn 
Eyre, of the Eastern Shore, Peter Beverley Whiting, and 
his brother John, Thos. Nelson, (the late Gen. Nelson,) 
Christopher Robinson of Middlesex, Augustine Cook, and 
John Fox of Gloster ; so that I made up, or kept up the 
number which Yates required ; but in a short time, his pas- 
sionate disposition induced L. Willis, and Edward Carter to 
leave him, and Severn Eyre not long after followed the 
Carters to our College, where Edward had joined his brother 
Charles. The two Whitings followed them, and Mr. Nelson, 
and Col. Tucker, took their sons and sent them to England, 
to finish their education ; and at the end of my year, Robin- 
son, Cooke, and Fox, went to College, and my father and 
Mr. Willis procured a most excellent tutor for their sons, 
instead of sending them there. I had been totally inter- 
rupted in my delightful reading of Histories, and Novels, 
for twelve months tied down to get by heart an insipid and 
unintelligible book, called Lilly's Grammer, one sentence in 
which my master never explained. But happily, my new 
tutor Mr. Wm. Price, at Mr. Willis's, soon enabled me to 
see that it was a complete Grammer, and an excellent Key 
to the Latin Language. This faithful and ingenious young 
man, who was about 20 years of age, and had been studying 
the language at his leisure, as he was intended for the 
church, into which he could not enter till he was 24 years 
of age, was happily of a most communicative disposition, 
and possessed the happiest talents of explaining what he 



226 THE OLD SOUTH 

taught, and rendering it an agreeable, and most desirable 
object ; was beloved and strictly attended to by me. After 
3 years close application to my studies under Mr. Price, 
some circumstances occurred which induced him to accept 
of the office of Secretary to the Hon. Philip Ludwell, who 
was deputed by the Governor to meet a Convention of Gov- 
ernors, or their deputies, at New York, to resolve on the 
quotas of money that each colony should furnish to carry 
on the war against France, and his mind had been so in- 
flamed by the military ardour displayed in the letters of 
Capt. George Mercer, (afterwards Colonel of the 2d Va. 
Regiment,) another old fellow collegian, who had quitted 
the academic groves there for the field of Mars, which he 
had always read to me with enthusiasm, that he resolved to 
abandon the humble employment he was in, and to fly to 
the Royal standard, to fight as it seemed necessary then 
to do, pro Aris et Focis, instead of going to England for a 
License to come back, and preach and pray. For Brad- 
dock's defeat had terrified all but the brave, and every 
coward believed and said that we were on the point of 
destruction. My dearly beloved Tutor, however, after hav- 
ing enjoyed Lieutenancy a few months in the British army, 
died! 

It is highly probable that Mr. Price's Whiggish princi- 
ples, and his inducing me to admire Roman and Grecian 
Heroes, and to delight in reading of wars and battles, and 
to enquire on what the success of those interesting events 
turned, " gave the colour and complexion" to my prospects 
and conduct through life ; otherwise I know not what could 
have borne me up to defy the terrible threats of George the 
3d, and at last actually oppose his troops in arms, aa the 
heroical militia of Gloster, now Gloster and Mathews, enabled 
me to do. 

After I had lost my tutor Mr. Price, my father entered 
me in the Grammar School at William and Mary College, 



TWO OLD COLONIAL PLACES 227 

when I was 13 years of age, instead of sending me to 
England, as he had promised my mother he would, before I 
should arrive at that age. But fortunately for me, several 
Virginians, about this time, had returned from that place 
(where we were told learning alone existed) so inconceiv- 
ably illiterate, and also corrupted and vicious, that he swore 
no son of his should ever go there, in quest of an education. 
The most remarkable of these was his own Cousin Eobert 
Carter, of Nominy, who however in a course of years, after 
he had got a seat at the Council board, studied Law, His- 
tory, and Philosophy, and although his knowledge was very 
limited, and his mind confused by studying without the 
assistance of a tutor, he conversed a great deal with our 
highly enlightened Governor, Fauquier, and Mr. Wm. Small, 
the Professor of Mathematics at the College of Wm. and 
Mary, from whom he derived great advantages. And his 
understanding was so enlarged, that he discovered the cruel 
tyrannical designs of the British government, and when I 
found him at the Council Board, in the time of Lord Dun- 
more, he was a pure and steady patriot. At College, as my 
father put me to lodge, board, &c, at the President's, 
Thomas Dawson, a younger brother of Dr. William Dawson, 
at whose death Thomas succeeded to his office of President 
of William and Mary College, and the Bishop of London's 
Commissary in Virginia, and of course became his suc- 
cessor in the Council ; for the Bishop of London always had 
sufficient weight with the King, to place his Deputy Bishop, 
as we may call him, in that mimick deputy House of Lords 
— I gay at College, as I lived with the President, who my 
Father had feed handsomely to be my private tutor, and he, 
finding me far better graduated in Latin than many boya 
much older than myself, was proud to introduce his pupil 
to the particular attention, first of Governor Dinwiddle, an 
old Scotch gentleman, who was fond of appearing a patron 
of learning, and secondly, to Governor Fauquier, to whose 



228 THE OLD SOUTH 

much greater learning and judgment my ever to be beloved 
Professor, Mr. Small, had held me up as -worthy of his 
attention ; — I had finished my regular course of studies, in 
the Philosophy Schools, after having gone through the 
Grammar School, before the death of Governor Fauquier; 
and having married Miss Prances Burwell, only daughter of 
the Hon. Robert Burwell, and of his wife Sarah Nelson, the 
half sister of William Nelson, and Thos. Nelson, (two broth- 
ers and members of the King's Council,) I was by these 
gentlemen, introduced to Lord Botetourt's attention, when 
he arrived here as Governor, and, after his death, to Lord 
Dunmore, on his arrival. These circumstances contributed 
to introduce me into public life ; and added to my having 
been twice elected, by the President and Professor of Wm. 
and Mary College, to represent it in our general Assembly, 
and had been appointed by the Governor and visitors, a 
visitor of the College. 

As a visitor, I faithfully supported the rights and privi- 
leges of both Professors and Students ; and notwithstanding 
I had been placed at the Council Board by Lord Dunmore, 
I opposed his nomination of John Randolph as a visitor, 
boldly declaring that as he had been rejected en a former 
occasion, as not possessing the disposition and character, 
moral and religious, which the Charter and Statutes of the 
College required, he ought not again to be nominated, till 
it could be proved that he had abandoned his former princi- 
ples, and practices, which no one could venture to say he 
had. I then proposed Nathaniel Burwell, in the place of 
Lord Dunmore's nomination, and he was elected I think by 
every voice except Dunmore's. For this, although he never 
shewed any marks of resentment, I found I had incurred 
his displeasure, and that of his Secretary, Capt. Edward 
Foy, who resented my conduct so much before some of my 
friends, that I was obliged to call him to an account for it — ■ 
and he, like a brave and candid man, made full reparation 



TWO OLD COLONIAL PLACES 229 

to me, and my friend James Innes, at that time Usher of 
the Grammar School in "William and Mary College, after- 
wards the well-known Col. Innes. I continued to discharge 
the duty of a visitor till I was elected a memher of Con- 
gress, when finding that I could not attend the visitations, I 
resigned my office of visitor. As a member of the General 
Assembly, I voted always in favour of civil and religious 
liberty ; that is for the enaction of those laws that would 
promote either, and for the abolition of entails. In the 
Council, I adhered to my former Whiggish principles, and 
of course opposed the Tory principles of the Governor, a 
pupil of Lord Bute ; for he boasted that he was the com- 
panion of George III. during his tuition under that Earl— . 
("Par nobile Fratrum!"'). At one Board, I joined with 
those patriotic members who advised the issuing of new 
writs for the election and call of an Assembly, and at a 
time when it was dangerous (as far as a loss of office went) 
to propose it, as the Governor had plainly given us to under- 
stand, that the King was determined to rule the Colonies 
without their check, or controul ; and at another Board, I 
boldly advised the Governor to give up the Powder and 
Arms, which he had removed from the Magazine. But he 
flew into an outrageous passion, smiting his fist on the table, 
saying, " Mr. Page, I am astonished at you." \ calmly re- 
plied I had discharged my duty, and had no other advice to 
give. As the other Councillors neither seconded or opposed 
me, he was greatly embarassed. As I was never summoned 
to attend another Board, I might well suspect I was sus- 
pended from my office ; but as I cared nothing about that, I 
never enquired whether I was or not. P. Henry, afterwards 
so famous for his military parade against Dunmore, did 
actually bully him, but they appeared to me to be mutually 
afraid of each other. I never refused any office, however 
humble, or however perilous. I served as Col. of a Regi- 
ment of Militia, which was offered me during a serious inva- 



230 THE OLD SOUTH 

sion; and resigned but that of Councillor, after having 
served, as I expressed in my letter to the General Assembly, 
beyond what I conceived was the time contemplated by the 
Constitution. 

In 1784, I served as an Academician, with Bishop 
Madison, Mr. K. Andrews, and Andrew Ellicott, in ascer- 
taining and fixing the boundary between Pennsylvania and 
Virginia ; and in 1785, as a Lay Deputy of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church, deputed by the Convention of Virginia 
with the Kev. Dr. Griffiths, and the Rev. Mr. McCroskey to 

represent in the Grand Convention, at New York. I 

then served my native county as a representative in Assem- 
bly, till the new Constitution threw me into Congress, 
where I served my country eight years with a safe con- 
science,^ till John Adams and A. Hamilton shut me out ; 
I however repeatedly struggled to get in again, but in vain. 

I would require volumes to describe what I did whilst 
in the Committee of Safety, Council, and Congress, and no 
small one to relate the interesting and hazardous services 
I performed with my brave associates in Gloster and 
Mathews. If I live my Memoirs shall do justice to the 
brave and patriotic county, Lieut. Peyton, and many 
others who deserve; but my Lieut. Col. Thomas Baytop, 
and his brave patriotic brother, who served under him 
freely during those times, and Capt. Camp, now Colonel, 
are alive, as is also Capt. Hudgins, now of Mathews, who 
displayed, with many other officers, bravery and skill, par- 
ticularly Col. J. Baytop. 

I next served in the military character as Lieut. Col. 
Commandant in Gloster, and took my tour of duty, as Com- 
mander of a Regiment, composing part of the quota called 
from Virginia, to quell the insurgents in the Western 
Country. Though sick, I marched and joined my Brigadier 
at Winchester, and my Major General at Frankfort, near 
the foot of the Alleghany, who finding me actually ill, 



TWO OLD COLONIAL PLACES 231 

torrote me a consolatory letter, and advised me to return 
tome by slow marches. 



Before I had the benefit of a Philosophical education at 
College, with Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Walker, Dabney Carr, and 
others, under the illustrious Professor of Mathematics, 
Wm. Small, Esq. , afterwards well known as the great Dr. 
Small, of Birmingham, the darling friend of Darwin, His- 
tory, and particularly military and naval History, attracted 
my attention. But afterwards, natural and experimental 
Philosophy, Mechanics, and, in short, every branch of the 
Mathematics, particularly Algebra, and Geometry, warmly 
engaged my attention, till they led me on to Astronomy, 
to which after I had left College, till some time after I was 
married, I devoted my time. I never thought, however, 
that I had made any great proficiency in any study, for 
I was too sociable, and fond of the conversation of my 
friends to study as Mr. Jefferson did, who could tear him- 
self away from his dearest friends, to fly to his studies. 

The memoir was never completed, having been 
interrupted by the illness and death of its author. 
He succeeded James Monroe as governor of Vir- 
ginia in 1802. This office he held for three suc- 
cessive terms, — the longest period allowed by the 
Constitution, — and was thereafter appointed by 
Mr. Jefferson Commissioner of Loans for Virginia, 
which office he held at the time of his death, on 
the 11th of October, 1808. In 1790, while a mem- 
ber of Congress, he married his second wife, Miss 
Margaret Lowther of New York, who survived 
him, as did also children of each marriage. 



232 THE OLD SOUTH 

He lies buried in the churchyard of " Old St. 
John's," 1 Richmond, Virginia, close to the walls 
which he held sacred to the service of God and his 
country. 

1 Here met on the 20th of March, 1775, the Second Virginia 
Convention, which lasted a week, and adjourned after taking 
steps for putting the colony in a "posture of defence." It was 
during the debate on this subject that Patrick Henry made the 
famous speech concluding with the well-known sentence, " Give 
me liberty, or give me death." 



THE OLD VIRGINIA LAWYER 



THE OLD VIRGINIA LAWYER 

I knew him only in his latter days ; bnt I hare 
known those who knew him well, and thus I have 
come to have some knowledge of him ; and as he has 
passed away it seems to me well that some memory 
of him should be preserved. He was a notable per- 
sonage ; a character well worth preserving ; a con- 
stituent part of our civilization. He was the most 
considerable man of the county. The planter, the 
preacher, and the doctor were all men of position 
and consideration ; but the old lawyer surpassed 
them all. Without the wealth of the planter, the 
authority of the clergyman, or the personal affection 
which was the peculiar possession of the family 
physician, the old lawyer held a position in the 
county easily first. He was, indeed, as has been 
aptly said, a planter, though he was not that pri- 
marily. Primarily he was a lawyer. He managed 
his farm only by the way. 

Often, perhaps generally, he was of good family 
and social connection ; or if he was not, he was a 
man of such native force of mind and character that 
he had made and maintained his position without 
such adventitious aids, in a social system to the 

235 



236 THE OLD SOUTH 

aristocratic exclusiveness of which his case was the 
single exception. Generally, he was both clever 
and ambitions ; for only the exceptionally clever 
and ambitious were put at the bar. 

He had the prestige of a college education (except 
in the instance mentioned, where by his natural 
powers he had, without such aid, made himself), 
and his education was an education indeed, not 
a mere cramming of the memory with so many 
facts or so many statements concerning so many 
things. His knowledge was not rudis indigestaque 
moles. 

Thus when he left college he had a mind trained 
to work on whatever was before it like a well- 
adjusted machine, and not a mere shell littered up 
with indiscriminate information. He was ambi- 
tious, and his aspirations were high ; otherwise 
he would not have taken to the bar. Probably 
he had taken a turn at politics as a young man, 
usually on the losing side. If he was success- 
ful, he generally continued in politics, and thus 
was not an "old lawyer," but a statesman or poli- 
tician who might or might not practise law by 
the way. 

His training was not always that of the modern 
law-class ; but it was more than a substitute for it ; 
and it was of its own kind, complete. He " read 
law under " some old lawyer, some friend of his 
father or himself, who, although not a professor, 
was, without professing it, an admirable teacher. 



THE OLD VIRGINIA LAWYER 237 

He associated with him constantly, in season and 
out of season ; he saw him in his every mood ; he 
observed him in intercourse with his clients, with 
his brothers of the bar, with the outside world ; he 
heard him discourse of law, of history, of literature, 
of religion, of philosophy ; he learned from him to 
ponder every manifestation of humanity; to con- 
sider the great underlying principles into which 
every proposition was resolvable ; he found in him 
an exemplification of much that he inculcated, and 
a frank avowal of that wherein he failed. He 
learned to accept Lord Coke's dictum: "melior est 
petere fontes quam sectari rivulos" — to look to the 
sources rather than to tap the streams ; he fed upon 
the strong meat of the institutes and the commen- 
taries, with the great leading cases which stand now 
as principles ; he received by absorption the tra- 
ditions of the profession. On these, like a healthy 
child, he grew strong without taking note. Thus 
in due time when his work came he was fully 
equipped. His old tutor had not only taught him 
law ; he had taught him that the law was a science, 
and a great, if not the greatest science. 

He had impressed him with the principles which 
he himself held, and they were sound; he had, 
indeed, stamped upon his mind the conviction that 
he, his tutor, was the greatest lawyer of his time, a 
conviction which no subsequent observation nor 
experience ever served to remove. 

His law library was a curious one ; it embraced 



238 THE OLD SOUTH 

the great text-writers, only the greatest — Bracton, 
Coke upon Littleton, Blackstone — generally in old 
editions with marginal notes in the handwriting 
of his early and ambitious days ; it had probably 
the Virginia Reports and a few, a very few, old 
English reports, the decisions of Lord Hardwick 
and Lord Mansfield being among them, generally 
in odd volumes, the others having been borrowed 
and never returned. 

On circuit he carried his library and his ward- 
robe in his saddle-bags. 

If, however, his law library was scant, his gen- 
eral library was much more complete ; on the shelves 
of his book-presses were the classics, both Latin 
and English, all testifying use, for nothing there 
was for show. These he knew ; he not only read 
them, but loved them ; he associated with them ; 
he revelled in them. The poets and sages of the 
past were his teachers, his friends. 

He had made his mark, perhaps unexpectedly, 
in some case in which the force of his maturing 
intellect had suddenly burst forth, astonishing 
alike the bar and the bench, and enrapturing the 
public. Perhaps it was a criminal case; perhaps 
one in which equity might be on his side, with the 
law dead against him ; and which was regarded by 
older men with the conservatism of age as impos- 
sible until, by his brilliant effort, he unexpectedly 
won it. As like as not he rode forty miles that 
night to give a flower to his sweetheart. 



THE OLD VIRGINIA LAWYER 239 

From this time his reputation, his influence, and 
his practice increased. His professional position 
was henceforth assured. He had risen from a tyro 
to be an old lawyer. 

He married early, and for love, the daughter of a 
gentleman, very likely of the old lawyer with whom 
he had read law ; perhaps a beauty and a belle, 
who, with many suitors, chose the young lawyer, 
whom older men were beginning to speak of, and 
younger men were already following ; who had 
brought her the news of his victory that night, and 
who could cope with her father in a discussion or 
disdainfully destroy a younger disputant. He took 
her to live on some poor plantation, in an old house 
which stood amid great oaks and hickories, with 
scanty furniture and few luxuries, yet which, 
under their joint influence, became an old Virginia 
home, and a centre of hospitality and refinement. 
Here he lived, not merely had his being, a machine 
or part of a machine ; but lived, and what a life it 
was ! The body fed and kept in health ; the soul 
free from vice and debasement, dwelling in con- 
stant intercourse with a beautiful being ; in com- 
munion, if not with God, at least with his two 
chief ministers : Nature and a gracious, gentle, and 
pure woman; the intellect nourished by associa- 
tion with a pure spirit, by contact with the best 
thought of ancient and modern times, and by con- 
stant and philosophic reflection. The world pros- 
pered ; friends surrounded him ; young children 



240 THE OLD SOUTH 

with, their mother's eyes came and played about 
his feet, with joyous voices making his heart con- 
tent. Thus he grew, his circle ever widening as 
the circle of our horizon widens when we climb 
towards heaven. These were some of the influ- 
ences which created him. 

Let me mention one of the chief. It was his 
wife. She believed in him ; she worshipped him. 
She knew he ought to be Chief Justice of the 
United States. She was the supreme presence 
which made his home and gave him in large part 
his distinctive character. She ruled his house, 
regulated his domestic affairs, and was his chief 
minister. In all matters within the curtilage, in- 
deed, she was the head. Within this boundary 
and in all that pertained thereto, with a single 
exception, she was supreme. That exception was 
his old desk or "secretary." It was sacred even 
from her, consecrated to him alone. There were 
kept piles of old letters, and bundles of old papers 
in what appeared to her orderly mind a strange 
confusion ; but which he always declared was the 
perfection of order, though it invaria,bly took him 
a long time to find any particular paper he might 
want, a difficulty which he attributed to the occa- 
sion when she had once shortly after marriage 
attempted in his absence to "put things in order." 
Since then she had regarded the desk and its con- 
tents with profound reverence. He repaid her by 
holding her as the incarnation of all wisdom and 



THE OLD VIRGINIA LAWYER 241 

vtrtue. He stood before her as before an inscru- 
table and superior being. He intrusted to her all 
his personal affairs, temporal and spiritual. He 
could not have secured an abler administrator. 
She was his complement, the unseen influence 
which made him what he was. She created the 
atmosphere in which he shone. 

His professional life, once begun, went on. The 
law is an enlistment for life and the battle is ever 
in array. No client who appeared with the requi- 
site certificate of clientage was ever refused. 
There was no picking and choosing. The old law- 
yer was a sworn officer of the court, a constituent 
element of the great juridical system of the 
country. Whoever wanted legal advice, and applied 
to him for it, was entitled to it and received it. 
From that moment the relation of counsel and 
client began. It was a sacred relation. His clients 
were his " clients " in the good old original sense of 
the term. They were not merely persons who came 
into an office and bought and paid for so much pro- 
fessional service; they were his clients, who con- 
fided in his protection as their patron, and received 
it. The requisite preliminaries, it is true, had to be 
satisfactorily arranged ; the client had to recognize 
his importance ; his authority as his counsel 5 the 
good fortune he had in securing his services ; he 
had to promise to transfer to him a proper portion 
of his personal estate as a proof that he did under- 
stand the full measure of this good fortune, and 



242 THE OLD SOUTH 

then he became his counsel. From this moment 
the client had obtained the use of a new force. 
From this moment he "had counsel." Every power 
and every resource were devoted to his service. 
No time was too precious to be spent, no labor too 
arduous to be endured in his behalf. Body, mind, 
and soul, his counsel had flung himself into his 
cause ; guided by his professional instinct, spurred 
by his professional pride, he identified himself 
with his client's cause, ready to live for it, fight 
for it, and if necessary even die for it. Public 
opinion had nothing to do with his undertaking a 
ease. He thought but of his profession. He would, 
if applied to, defend a client whom if he had not 
been applied to he would willingly have hung. 

Once in a case, he never gave up ; if possible he 
carried it on to success, or if he were defeated he 
expended every intellectual resource in trying to 
recover ; he was ready to move for new trials, to 
appeal, to apply for rehearings, and if at the end 
he were still unsuccessful, he went down damning 
every one opposed to him, counsel, client, and bench, 
as a parcel of fools who did not know the law when 
he put it under their very noses. No wonder that 
the clients regarded their counsel with veneration ! 

In a trial he was a new being ; his eye bright- 
ened ; his senses quickened ; his nerves thrilled ; 
his form straightened; every power, every force, 
was called into play ; he was no longer a mere law- 
yer, he was a gladiator in an intellectual contest 



THE OLD VIRGINIA LAWYER 243 

where the intellect was strung to its highest pitch; 
a soldier fighting for a cause where reason was 
wrought in plain, pure, unmistakable nakedness ; 
where every force of the human mind was called 
into action, and every chord of the human heart 
was at hand to be played upon. 

Before a judge he was powerful; for he ar- 
gued from the bed-rock principles. This was his 
strength. He was trained to it. Often retained 
on the court green just before the case was called 
at bar, in out-of-the-way places where there were 
no books, he was forced to rely upon his reason; 
and his reason and his cause equally prospered. 
One of his maxims was, " Common law is common 
sense." Another was, "The reason of the law is 
the life of the law." He did not need books ; as 
was said, no man had more contempt for author- 
ities, no man had more respect for authority. 

But if he was potent before a judge, before a 
jury he was supreme. For pleading he had little 
or no respect. It was to be accepted as one of the 
eccentricities of the profession ; it was like some of 
the unaccountable and inscrutable things in the old 
dispensation, to be accepted in silence; it was a 
mystery. His great aim was to come to the jury. 
He often filed a blank declaration, secure in the 
knowledge that his opponent would take no advan- 
tage of him, knowing that next time he might file 
a blank declaration himself. The real thing was, in 
the words of one of them, " to brush way the little 



244 THE OLD SOUTH 

chinquapin bush p'ints and get at the guts of the 
case." 

He held men generally in some contempt ; but as 
they approached in the scale to the dignity of mem- 
bers of the bar, his estimation of them rose. The 
old clerks, as standing in a close relation to the bar, 
were his friends, stood high in his regard, and were 
admitted to a share of his intimacy. The bench he 
treated with all respect, his true feelings for the 
persons who sat on it being perhaps sometimes 
veiled, as it was the position not the man that he 
respected ; but his affection, his enthusiasm, were 
reserved for the bar. The profession of the law 
was to him the highest of all professions. It was a 
brotherhood ; it was sacred ; it maintained the rights 
of man, preserved the government, controlled the 
administration of law. It was the profession of 
Bacon, and Coke, and Clarendon; of Lord Hard- 
wick and Lord Mansfield ; of Pratt and El don and 
Erskine ; of Pendleton, Henry, and Wythe, and the 
greatest of his race and kind. It was the profes- 
sion which created the liberties of man and pre- 
served the rights of man. 

Membership in it was a patent to the possessor, 
a freemasonry, a tie like that of close common 
blood which made every member of the bar "a 
brother lawyer." Every member was assumed to 
be all right, in virtue of his position, without fur- 
ther question; when one failed and was found 
wanting, he dropped out. Special terms of repro- 



THE OLD VIRGINIA LAWYER 245 

bation were adopted, such as " Shyster " and " Pet- 
tifogger," the full significance of which was known 
only to the profession. The extreme penalty was 
disbarring. It was deemed as great a disgrace as any 
other criminal sentence. Shrewdness might pos- 
sibly save the malefactor this extreme result ; but 
if he were guilty he was sentenced by the opinion 
of the bar in its severest term. He was "unpro- 
fessional." 

These things maintained an exalted standard in 
the profession. They created a sustaining atmos- 
phere. Wherever the old lawyer went he felt it 
sensibly. He could not be a lawyer and not be a 
better and a stronger man. He recognized it ; he 
made others recognize it; it was a controlling 
motive in his life. He practised on this basis, and 
as a result he elevated his profession and made it 
better than he found it. 

In conversation he was brilliant. The whole 
field of law, of literature, history, philosophy, was 
his domain. In all of them he ranged at will, 
exhibiting a knowledge, an intelligence, a critical 
faculty, which were astonishing. Though he never 
wrote a line, he was a philosopher, a wit, a poet. 
His knowledge of human nature was profound. It 
Was his chief study. He nearly always spoke of 
men in the aggregate with contempt ; of the times 
as " degenerate " ; yet in actual intercourse his 
conduct was at variance with his talk ; he treated 
every one with respect. He was in ordinary inter- 



246 THE OLD SOUTH 

course serious even to gravity, as one who bore 
heavy responsibilities; it was only with his par- 
ticular friends at home, or with his "brothers of 
the bar " on circuit, that he unbent. His fund of 
anecdote was inexhaustible. He told stories which 
kept his companions roaring ; told them with in- 
imitable aptness and delicious humor ; among them 
he was a boy, jovial, rollicking ; yet, let but a fool 
approach, and he was dignity itself. To young law- 
yers he was all kindness. He treated them with a 
courtesy which was knightly, with a gentleness and 
consideration which were almost tenderness. In 
private intercourse he called them by their names, 
with that flattering familiarity so pleasing to young 
men. In public he referred to them as "the learned 
counsel" or "my distinguished young brother." 
They repaid it by worshipping him. 

It was when he discoursed of law that the real 
power of his intellect was shown. He spoke of it 
with affection, with reverence, with enthusiasm. 
Under his analysis the most intricate problems 
appeared plain, the most eccentric phases resolved 
themselves into reason, the "common law was 
common sense." It was not the law as adminis- 
tered by fallible judges in petty courts ; it was the 
law on which Littleton and Coke and Blackstone 
and Tucker had expended their powers ; the law in 
its roundness, its beauty, its perfection, worthy to 
have for its seat "the bosom of God," and for its 
voice " the harmony of Nature." 



THE OLD VIRGINIA LAWYER 247 

He was sometimes profane, but never blasphe- 
mous ; lie was not even generally profane, for he re- 
garded speech as a fine instrument to be employed 
rightly. But on occasion he swore with vehemence, 
with power, with unction ; properly employing his 
oaths for purposes of superlative malediction. 

In his opinions, outside of the law, he was earnest, 
bigoted, intolerant. His speech was often fero- 
cious ; his action was ever the reverse. He was 
generous to lavishness. He kept open house, and 
dispensed a boundless hospitality, usually living 
up to and often beyond his means ; if he did 
not spend his money, some friend for whom he 
had gone security almost infallibly would. He 
was frequently in pecuniary embarrassment; yet 
he was honest. He sometimes even borrowed 
money from his clients; but it was done in an 
open way, with their consent, and always without 
the least idea of not repaying it. The case may be 
cited of one who in a suit, being asked what he did 
with his client's money which he had collected, 
replied : " Put it in my bank, sir, to my credit, and 
drew on it at my own sweet will, as is customary 
among gentlemen of ample means and greater ex- 
pectations." 

He was more charitable than the rector ; no one 
ever appealed to him for aid in vain ; he would lend 
even if he had to borrow to do it. "His pity gave 
ere charity began." 

He knew every man in his circuit, knew him and 



248 THE OLD SOUTH 

his father, and often had known his grandfather 
before him ; knew his history and all his concerns ; 
was privy (not in the legal sense) to his whole life, 
and to his every act, frequently to the lives of his 
parents ; for his familiarity with the affairs of his 
section was minute, universal. Perhaps it was not 
to be wondered at that with this intimate knowl- 
edge he held men at large in some contempt. He 
was not always a professing Christian; often he 
was not a member of any church; but his wife 
was, and this made it all right in his eyes. His 
failure to be a professing Christian was usually 
caused less by want of piety than by humility, 
a sense of personal unworthiness ; but he did jus- 
tice, loved mercy, and walked humbly with his God, 

His reputation, like his infirmities, increased with 
his years. Often in his latter days he was forced 
against his will into political life, where he achieved 
immediate renown. If be did not enter politics, 
often he was more potent than if he did. Fre- 
quently he was called on in times of great popular 
fervor or excitement to speak to the people, who 
relied upon him and wanted his council. Gen- 
erally his eloquence was overwhelming. He made 
speeches the reputation of which long survived him. 

He died poor, leaving no written memorial of his 
labors ; often his very name was in a generation or 
two forgot. But he was the best missed man in 
his section. He was missed by all; but most of 
all by the poor, by the helpless; by widows and 



THE OLD VIRGINIA LAWYER 249 

orphans. It was only after he passed away that 
his deeds of kindness were known; that his full 
worth was recognized. As when a great oak is 
overthrown by the tempest, its magnitude can be 
told by the rent it has made, so after he passed from 
them men came to know how great he had been by 
the void he left. 

Tradition took up his name and handed down 
stories of his prowess at the bar which lived, 
though as time passed they were attached to other 
names, and his was lost. There was recorded no 
memorial of his work at the bar ; but for all that 
his work survived. He left as the fruit of his 
labors that which he himself would have deemed 
the highest reward: large services rendered his 
fellowmen ; much charity done in secret ; a good 
name, and an unsullied profession. 



THE WANT OF A HISTORY OF 
THE SOUTHERN PEOPLE 



THE WANT OF A HISTORY OF THE 
SOUTHERN PEOPLE 

Do we know the true history of the South? I 
confess that I do not, nor do I know where it may 
be learned. 

When Phaon, the Sophist, consulted the oracle, 
he was directed to inquire of the dead. 

" How may this be ? " said the people, " seeing 
that the dead cannot speak ? " 

The philosopher turned to the records of their 
wisdom, and there found the answer he sought. 

If the South to-day should consult the oracle and 
receive this answer, whither should she turn? 

The eloquence which once reverberated from one 
end of the earth to the other is now an echo ; and 
the wisdom which created a nation is now the 
property of every beggar who dares to assert a 
claim. 

There is no true history of the South. In a few 
years there will be no South to demand a history. 
What of our history is known by the world to-day ? 
What is our position in history ? How are we 
regarded ? Nothing or next to nothing is known 

263 



254 THE OLD SOUTH 

of our true history by the world at large. By a 
limited class in England there is a vague belief 
founded on a sentiment that the South was the 
aristocratic section of this country, and that it 
stood for its rights, even with an indefensible 
cause. By a somewhat more extended class its 
heroism is admired sufficiently to partly condone 
its heresies. But these are a small part of the 
public. By the world at large we are held to have 
been an ignorant, illiterate, cruel, semi-barbarous 
section of the American people, sunk in brutality 
and vice, who have contributed nothing to the 
advancement of mankind : a race of slave-drivers, 
who, to perpetuate human slavery, conspired to de- 
stroy the Union, and plunged the country into war. 
Of this war, precipitated by ourselves, two salient 
facts are known — that in it we were whipped, 
and that we treated our prisoners with barbarity. 
Libby Prison and Andersonville have become by- 
words which fill the world with horror. Why 
should this be, when the real fact is that Libby was 
the best lighted and ventilated prison on either 
side ; when the horrors of Andersonville were 
greatly due to the terrible refusal of the Northern 
government to exchange prisoners or to send medi- 
cines to their sick ; when the prisoners there fared 
as well as our men in the field and when the treat- 
ment of Southern prisoners in Northern prisons 
was as bad if not worse and the rate of mortality 
was as great there as in ours ? 



THE WANT OF A HISTORY 255 

We are paraded as still exhibiting unconquered 
the same qualities untempered by misfortune; as 
nullifying the Constitution, falsifying the ballot, 
trampling down a weaker race in an extravagance 
of cruelty, and with shameless arrogance imperil- 
ling the nation as much now as when we went to 
war. 

This is concisely what the outer world thinks of 
us, and, in the main, honestly thinks of us. As 
the issues stand and with the record as it is at 
present made up, this is what posterity will think 
of us. 

The Encyclopedia Britannica is generally deemed 
a standard authority. It may be assumed to be 
impartial on all American matters as any other 
authority. In its article on "American Litera- 
ture," Vol. 1, p. 719, it says this of the South: 
"The attractive culture of the South has been 
limited iu extent and degree. The hothouse 
fruit of wealth and leisure, it has never struck its 
roots deeply into native soil. Since the Revolution 
days when Virginia was the nurse of statesmen, the 
few thinkers of America, born south of Mason and 
Dixon's line, outnumbered by those belonging to 
the single State of Massachusetts, have commonly 
emigrated to New York or Boston in search of a 
university training. In the world of letters, at 
least, the Southern States have shone by reflected 
light; nor is it too much to say that mainly by 
their connection with the North the Carolinas have 



256 THE OLD SOUTH 

been saved from sinking to the level of Mexico 01 
the Antilles." 

Think of this ! this said of the section that largely 
has made America, governed her, administered jus- 
tice from her highest tribunal, commanded her 
armies and navies, doubled her territory, created 
her greatness. 

How many are here in this audience who cannot 
tell the name of the ship that brought the Pilgrim 
Fathers to New England, and then went, according 
to tradition, on a less paternal pilgrimage ? Prob- 
ably not one ! 

Now how many are there who can tell the names 
of the vessels that brought first to the shores of the 
South the Anglo-Saxon race which reclaimed Amer- 
ica, and made it forever the home of liberty and 
Christianity ? 

They were the Discovery, the Good-Speed, and 
the Susan-Constant. 

Does not the relative notoriety of the two prove 
that the history of the South has been regarded 
with indifference ? The men borne hither by these 
three vessels, and not the passengers on the May- 
flower, were the Argonauts who first took the 
Golden Fleece, this golden land. 

From that day to this the South has been content 
to act, and has not cared for the judgment of her 
contemporaries, much less of posterity. From that 
day the deeds which have added a new continent 
to Christendom and have perpetuated the spirit of 



THE WANT OF A HISTORY 257 

liberty have been left without other memorial than 
their own existence to the all-engulfing maw of time. 

A people has lived, and after having crowded 
into two centuries and a half a mightiness of force, 
a vastness of results, which would have enriched a 
thousand years, has passed away, and has left no 
written record of its life. A civilization has existed 
more unique than any other since the dawn of his- 
tory, as potent in its influence, and yet no chron- 
icle of it has been made by any but the hand of. 
hostility. 

Is there any history of this country which you 
can place in your boy's hands and say, " This is 
the true history of your native land " ? 

I do not belittle the local chroniclers who have 
preserved from absolute oblivion the records of 
their native States. On the contrary, I hold them 
and their unrequited toil in all honor. Except for 
their labors of love the story of the Old South 
would have been lost in the abyss of the irreclaim- 
able past ; we should have been forced to say as 
we used to say in the old games of our childhood, 
" Rats have eaten it and fire has burnt it." 

The very records of the country by which our 
rights of citizenship are established have been lost 
by reason of this national negligence. 

The muniments of title to the property we hold, 
nay, the very proof of our identity and position, 
social and legal, have been disregarded and de- 
stroyed. 



258 THE OLD SOUTH 

I doubt if a large proportion of the respectable 
people in the South would not, if they were called 
on to establish the legal marriage of their grand- 
parents, find themselves compelled to rely on gen- 
eral reputation. 

The universal indifference at the South to the 
preservation of public records is appalling. 

It is almost incredible that a race so proud of its 
position, so assertive of its rights, so jealous of its 
reputation, should have been so indifferent to all 
transmission of their memorial. 

The solution of the mystery is to be found, I think, 
in the wonderful rapidity of the development of the 
country. The progress of the nation was so marvel- 
lous that there was no time to record it. Action 
was so intense and so absorbing that no leisure 
was found to give to its contemplation. The race 
was so momentous that young Atalanta had no 
time to pause even to secure the apples of the 
Hesperides. 

When the stern exactions of colonial life gave 
place to the gentler phase which advancing civili- 
zation brought, the transition was so great and so 
sudden that the senses were lulled in a sweet ob- 
livion to the demands of the future, and were satis- 
fied with enjoyment of the present. It was a life 
which the outer world misunderstood and mis- 
judged. The spirit of the Southerner, accustomed 
as he was to domination, was not such as to take 
misjudgment meekly. He met it with a pride 



THE WANT OP A HISTORY 259 

which success did not temper and defeat could not 
quell. 

He was eminently self-contained, and his own 
self-respect satisfied, he cared not for the world's 
applause. He was content to live according to his 
own will, and as there was no human tribunal to 
which he wished to submit his acts, why should he 
keep a record of his life ? 

Thus it is, that the only history of the South is 
that contained in the journals of the time, and in 
the fragmentary minutes of the polemic warfare 
in which a large part of the population was unceas- 
ingly engaged, and the South is to-day practically 
without a written history. I cannot accept as her 
true history the dissertations composed in part of 
the disjointed records divorced from the circum- 
stances which called them into being, and for the 
rest, of the lubrications of the hostile or the un- 
sympathetic commentator. Her history must have 
another source than this. 

From the birth of the American people the two 
sections of the country were the North and the 
South. Mason and Dixon's line stretched from the 
East to the West before it received its baptismal 
name. 

The origins of the two populations were differ- 
ent. The tendencies were yet more diverse. Two 
essentially diverse civilizations were the result. 
That of the North was compact, cohesive, and com- 
mercial. The settlement was in towns or town* 



260 THE OLD SOUTH 

ships. The municipality possessed and exercised 
powers which never could have been tolerated at 
the South. That of the South was diffusive and 
agricultural. It tended to the development of the 
individual, and to guardfulness of his rights. As- 
sertion of the rights, privileges, and franchises of 
the individual was the cardinal doctrine of the 
South. The Southerner bore this with him as an 
inalienable heritage wherever he went, into prime- 
val forests and across mountain ranges. Kentucky- 
had yet hard work to hold her own against the sav- 
age when she was adopting her celebrated resolu- 
tions. 

The New Englander went to his meeting-house 
to receive instruction and to accept direction from 
the authorized powers, spiritual and temporal. 

The Southerner rode through trackless forests 
to argue questions as to their powers and their 
authority. 

At first the interests of the two sections were 
not merely not identical, but were conflicting, until 
the coalition between the French and the Indian, 
bringing identity of danger, created identity of in- 
terest. The tyranny of the British crown continued 
this cause and brought the two sections, for the pur- 
pose of common defence, into a close confederation. 
The restrictions and the impotency of this confeder- 
acy were so great, and the advantages of a " more 
perfect union " were so manifest, that the Articles of 
Confederation gave way to a new compact, embrac* 



THE WANT OF A HISTORY 261 

ing such "alterations and provisions" as seemed 
necessary to "render the Federal Constitution ad- 
equate to the exigencies of government ajid the 
preservation of the Union." 

The result was the Constitution of the United 
States. 

Hardly had the Union been established before 
the divergent interests of the two sections reas- 
serted themselves. From this time the struggle 
on the part of each was to obtain ascendency, and 
to control the government, each jealously opposing 
every attempt on the part of the other to ex- 
tend its power. Unfortunately, a factor remained 
which rendered harmony impossible. African 
slavery, which at one time had been as acceptable 
at the North as at the South, had been found not 
suited to the latitude nor to the peculiar civilization 
which existed there. It was, therefore, in process 
of abolition, and in a comparatively brief period, 
through the instrumentalities of emancipation, and 
of transference, it disappeared at the North. 

After a time hostility to this institution be- 
came the excitant of the popular mind against the 
South, and was the lever with which the politi- 
cians worked the overthrow of this section. At 
the period of which I speak, however, its legality 
was as frankly admitted at the North as at the 
South ; it was, indeed, expressly recognized in the 
Constitution of the United States, and it was only 
one of a number of differences which brought the 



262 THE OLD SOUTH 

two sections into opposition, and finally precipi- 
tated a war. 

The real cause of the antagonism of the two sec- 
tions at that day was the sectional rivalry which 
existed between them. The Southern States at 
first had a large excess of territory ; but when the 
first census was taken in 1790 there was but a small 
numerical excess over the population of the North, 
and counting the States about to be admitted, each 
section had the same number of States. 

In order to disarm jealousy growing out of excess 
of area, and to facilitate the union, Virginia, the 
largest and most powerful State, stripped herself 
of her vast northwestern territory and ceded to the 
general government that region from which, since 
then, have been carved the States of Ohio, Indiana, 
Illinois, Michigan, and a large part of Minnesota. 

Then she gave her heart, Kentucky. These 
States, with one exception, were settled by a North- 
ern population, and became Northern in sentiment, 
throwing a heavy preponderance into the Northern 
scale, and destroying the equilibrium which had 
existed, and upon which depended the peace and 
security of the nation. 

From this time, the South was never permitted 
to increase her power without a corresponding in- 
crement to the North. Every step taken to restore 
the old equipoise was met and resisted as tending 
to Southern aggrandizement, and as a blow at the 
rights and privileges of the North. The purchase 



THE WANT OF A HISTORY 263 

of the vast territory of Louisiana as early as 1803, 
and the admission of a State carved from the new 
acquisition, excited such violent opposition at the 
North that warnings came from New England 
threatening to dissolve the Union, which implied a 
view of the social compact not altogether consistent 
with that subsequently taken by New England 
statesmen. In 1812-15 New England, her trade 
being injured by the war with Great Britain, again 
threatened to secede. Not a great many years 
afterward, in 1819-20, the attempt to bring into 
the Union another portion of the vast Louisiana 
domain as the State of Missouri brought the strug- 
gle to a climax, and the existence of the Union 
was again seriously imperilled by the menace on 
the part of Northern States to dissolve it. 

The difficulty was finally temporarily arranged 
by the noted Missouri Compromise, which admitted 
Missouri as a State, but prohibited slavery in all 
that portion of the Louisiana territory (except Mis- 
souri only) lying north of 36° 30' north latitude. 

It may be supposed that this philanthropic pro- 
vision, which was effected by the Northern vote, 
was due to abhorrence of the peculiar institution 
which existed at the South. The histories we have 
been brought up on teach this. The fact is other- 
wise. Long subsequent to this, Abolitionists were 
held in equal contempt and encountered equal oblo- 
quy at the North and at the South. 

The provision embraced in the Missouri Com- 



264 THE OLD SOUTH 

promise was based on the facts that a considerable 
portion of the property of Southerners consisted of 
slaves ; that when the Southerner emigrated, he, 
like Abraham of old, carried his slaves with him ; 
and that if he could not take them, he remained 
where he was. It was an effective means of pre- 
venting the extension of Southern influence. This 
was the first time that the sentiment against slavery- 
was utilized as a lever to aid the North in its 
struggle for sectional supremacy. It was not des- 
tined to be the last time. It was found to be so 
potent a power that it was employed until event- 
ually the Northern people came to believe them- 
selves the chosen people of Israel and looked on 
the Southerners as the outcasts of the Gentiles. 

It was in this controversy that the term " Seces- 
sion " was first applied as indicating the action of 
a State in withdrawing from the Union. 

In the light of subsequent events it is interesting 
to know that its use in this sense was due to a 
Northerner who threatened the South with a seces- 
sion on the part of his people. This fixed intention 
on the part of the North to retain supremacy was 
manifested when Southern sagacity and statesman- 
ship annexed the empire of Texas. 

Again the North resisted this extension of the 
Union even to the point of a threat to secede and 
destroy it. It was exhibited again upon the acqui- 
sition of California and New Mexico from Mexico. 
The line of the Missouri Compromise was extended 



THE WANT OF A HISTORY 265 

West through, the Texan territory, because Texas 
was Southern already, but when the Mexican do- 
main was acquired, the North repudiated the prin- 
ciple of extension and claimed and took it all. 

By these acts it was strong enough to maintain 
its supremacy in the government, and its power 
was exercised to establish a system of protection 
which fostered the manufacturers of the North and 
imposed the principal burden of taxation on the 
non-manufacturing South. Whilst the South gov- 
erned the country, maintained her credit, extended 
her limits, fought her battles, and established her 
fame, the North secured protection and under its 
influences waxed fat. 

Meantime the doctrine of abolition had nourished. 
In a generation it attained full growth. The sacred 
name of Liberty inspires the human heart. 

The propagandists of abolition appealed not to 
the Northern people, but to Christendom, and the 
South stood at once with the forces of the world 
arrayed against her. Her every act was misjudged, 
her every word was misinterpreted. 

She met this censure with sublime scorn. Ar- 
raigned at the judgment bar, she hurled defiance 
at her judges. 

She devoted all her intellectual resources, and 
they were immense, to polemical warfare. In her 
intemperate anger she permitted herself to abandon 
her point of vantage. She exercised her constitu- 
tional privilege and seceded. A great sentiment 



266 THE OLD SOUTH 

for the Union suddenly thrilled the North. It 
declared war. The result is known. 

It is to this section, heretofore inherently inca- 
pable of comprehending her, that the South has left 
the writing of the history of her civilization. It 
may appear to be not a matter of importance who 
writes the story of this country. Manifestly the 
South has so regarded it. It is, however, a sad 
fallacy. 

The writings of the propagandists of the North 
destroyed the power of the South and brought her 
to destruction. 

And now unless we look to it we shall go down 
to posterity as a blot on our time, and a reproach 
to American civilization. 

Does this seem to you a small thing ? In it lies 
the difference between fame and infamy, between 
corruption and immortality. 

Does it appear to you impossible ? Do we not 
now stand at the bar of history, charged with the 
crime of attempting to perpetuate human slavery, 
and for this purpose with conspiracy to destroy 
the best government the world has ever seen — 
the American Union ? 

We do stand so charged, and if we refuse to make 
our defence, the judgment of history will be against 
us for all time. 

Before fifty years shall have passed, unless we 
look to it, the South's action will have gone into 
history as the defence of human slavery, and it 



THE WANT OP A HISTORY 267 

will be deemed the world over to have been as great 
a crime against nature as the slave trade itself. 

How may this be avoided ? By establishing the 
fact that it was not the South, but the time, which 
was responsible for slavery ; and that this slavery 
with all its evils, and they were many, was the only 
civilizer that the African has yet known. By re- 
cording ere it be too late the true history of the 
South ; by preserving and transmitting the real life 
of that civilization, so that future ages may know 
not what its enemies thought it to be, but what it 
in truth was. 

Up to the present more than half of the material 
for a history of this nation has been overlooked — 
the material contained in the life of the Southern 
people. The history that has been written is as an 
ancient palimpsest, in which the writing that is 
read is but a monkish legend, whilst underneath, un- 
noticed and effaced, lies the record of eternal truth. 

It remains now to suggest a few elements of the 
material from which the only true history of the 
South and of this nation is to be constructed. 

One of the chief elements of strength in the old 
civilization of the South was self-respect. Arro- 
gant, as it is charged to have been, and as it may 
have been, pride lifted it above all meanness and 
elevated it into the realm of greatness. Its stan- 
dard was so high that contemplation of it made men 
upright, and aspiration to it made them noble. I 
belong to the new order of Southern life. I am one 



268 THE OLD SOUTH 

of those who can feel the thrill of new energies fill 
my heart ; I think I can see and admit the incal- 
culable waste, the narrow limitations of the old. 
I give my loyal and enthusiastic adherence to the 
present, with all its fresh and glorious possibilities ; 
but I shall never forget that it is to the Old South 
that the New South owes all that is best and noblest 
in its being. 

Can we ever secure the respect of the world if 
we have no self-respect ? 

Reverence for the greatness of its past, pride of 
race, are two cardinal elements in national strength. 

They made the Greek ; they made the Roman ; 
they made the Saxon ; they made the Southerner. 

We are the inheritors of a thousand years of 
courage and of devotion to principle. And without 
these two things we should deserve the contempt 
of mankind and the reprobation of God. 

Contemporary history is being recorded by writ- 
ers organically disabled to comprehend the action 
of the South. It rests with the South whether she 
shall go down to posterity as they have pictured 
her — the breeder of tyrants, the defender of slav- 
ery, the fomenter of treason. 

Scripta ferunt annos. 

We are not a race to pass and leave no memorial 
on our time. We live with more than Grecian 
energy. We must either leave our history to be 
written by those who do not understand it, or we 
must write it ourselves. 



THE WANT OF A HISTORY 269 

If we are willing to be handed down to coming 
time as a race of slave-drivers and traitors, it is as 
well to continue in our state of lethargy and acqui- 
escence ; but if we retain the instincts of men, 
and desire to transmit to our children the untar- 
nished name and spotless fame which our fore- 
fathers bequeathed to us, we must awake to the 
exigencies of the matter. We stand charged at the 
judgment bar of history with these crimes. It is 
useless to close our eyes to the fact. We stand so 
indicted, and posterity is the tribunal that shall 
try us. If we refuse to plead, the opportunity will 
pass away, the verdict of time will be "guilty," 
and the punishment will be the peine forte et dure. 
To leave us perpetually bound under the burden of 
guilt which some would bind on our shoulders, 
would be to withdraw from the divine heritage of 
patriotism the best soil for its growth on this conti- 
nent ; to debar from its influences the best material 
for war that the Anglo-American race has produced. 

Whatever else may be said, of this much are we 
sure, that the South and its civilization produced a 
race of soldiers which has never been surpassed. 
Present history may multiply her numbers and 
magnify her resources, but the original archives 
show with a conclusiveness which cannot be with- 
stood, the splendid heroism of the fight which, 
under the inspiration of what she deemed a sacred 
cause, she made not against the Union, but against 
the world. 



270 THE OLD SOUTH 

It was not for interest that she fought ; for war 
was not to her interest. It was not to dissolve the 
Union that she seceded ; for secession was again 
and again rejected by the border States. It was 
only when war was declared and the Constitution 
was set aside that these States, driven to their last 
resort, and, by Mr. Lincoln's call for troops, forced 
to take the one side or the other, to secede or to 
invade their sister States, exercised their constitu- 
tional rights and withdrew from the Union. 

A proof of the deep sincerity of their principles 
is the unanimity with which the South accepted the 
issue. From the moment that war was declared, 
the whole people were in arms. It was not merely 
the secessionist who enlisted, but the stanch Union 
man; not simply the slave-holder, but the moun- 
taineer ; the poor white fought as valorously as the 
great land-owner ; the women fought as well as the 
men; for, whilst the men were in the field the 
women and children at home waited and starved 
without a murmur and without a doubt. 

Some years ago I was shown a worn and faded 
letter written on old Confederate paper with pale 
Confederate ink. It had been taken from the 
breast-pocket of a dead private soldier of a Georgia 
regiment after one of the battles around Rich- 
mond. It was from his sweetheart. They were 
plain and illiterate people, for it was badly written 
and badly spelled. In it she told him that she 
loved him ; that she had always loved him since 



THE WANT OF A HISTORY 271 

they had gone to school together, in the little log 
schoolhouse in the woods ; that she was sorry she 
had always treated him so badly, and that now, if 
he would get a furlough and come home, she would 
marry him. 

Then, as if fearful that this temptation might 
prove too strong to be resisted, there was a little 
postscript scrawled across the blue Confederate 
paper : " Don't come without a furlough, for if 
you don't come honorable, I won't marry you." 

Was this the spirit of rebellion ? A whole people 
was in arms. A nation had arisen. It was the 
apotheosis of a race. 

When Varro lost the battle of Cannae, where 
the flower of the Roman knighthood was cut clown, 
the Roman Senate voted thanks to the consul quod 
de republica non desperasset ; when Lee, with tat- 
tered standards and broken battalions, recrossed 
the Potomac, after Gettysburg, the South exhibited 
greater devotion to him than when he forced Burn- 
side staggering back across the Rappahannock. 
When he abandoned Richmond and started on his 
march Southward, the South still trusted him as 
implicitly as when, with consummate generalship 
and a loss to the enemy of more than his own 
entire army, he had at Spottsylvania wedged Grant 
from his prey. 

That last retreat surpasses in heroism the retreat 
of the Ten Thousand. There was but a handful 
left of the army of Northern Virginia. The attri- 



272 THE OLD SOUTH 

ticra of four years of war had worn away the heroic 
army. Starvation had destroyed a part of what the 
sword had left, and had shrunken the forms of the 
small remnant; but the glorious courage, the in- 
domitable spirit of the Southern soldiery gleamed 
forth; and it had no more thought of surrender 
then than when it had first burst into flame on the 
victorious field of Bull Run. It was the crystalli- 
zation of Southern courage. 

Across the desolated land it retired like a 
wounded lion, sore pressed by unnumbered foes — 
stopping only to fight, for there was no rest nor 
food, until at last on that fateful morning it found 
the horizon filled with steel. It was hemmed in by 
the enemy, by the best equipped army that has 
stood on American soil, led by one of the greatest 
generals, the magnanimous Grant, and the Southern 
general saw that resistance was annihilation. Even 
in that hour of its extremity, the one cry of the 
little band to the adored Lee was to be led against 
them once more. 

The chronicler, who can see in this only the per- 
verseness of rebellion, lacks the essential spirit of 
the historian. The politician who can discuss it 
with derision or can view it with indifference will 
never rise to the plane of statesmanship. 

The deliberate and persistent endeavor to hold 
in contempt the people that could produce so sub- 
lime a spectacle and to forbid them participation in 
the Union, is a greater wrong to the Nation than 



THE WANT OF A HISTORY 273 

■was secession. It is an attempt to keep alienated 
from the Union a race that has ever hated with 
fervor but loved with passion ; of a race that with- 
drew from the Union under a belief in a principle 
so sincere, so deep, that it was almost idolatrous; 
of a race that has now under new conditions turned 
to the Union all the devotion which under different 
teaching and conditions was once given to the sev- 
eral States ; devotion which when directed against 
the Union shook it to its foundation, and now is 
destined to guard it and preserve it throughout its 
existence. 

The history of the South is yet to be written. 
He who writes it need not fear for his reward. 
Such a one must have at once the instinct of the 
historian and the wisdom of the philosopher. He 
must possess the talisman that shall discover truth 
amid all the heaps of falsehood, though they were 
piled upon it like Pelion on Ossa. He must have 
the sagacity to detect whatever of evil existed in 
the civilization he shall chronicle, though it be 
gleaming with the gilding of romance ; he must 
have the fortitude to resist all temptation to deflect 
by so much as a hair's breadth from the absolute 
and the inexorable facts, even if an angel should 
attempt to beguile him. He must know and tell 
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 
truth, so help him, God! 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 

To any calm observer of the present condition of 
our country painfully apparent must be the differ- 
ence between the state of what from long usage we 
are accustomed to term " the two sections." 

We have one language, one blood, one religion, 
one common end, one government ; but the North 
and the South are still " the two sections," as they 
were one hundred years ago, when the bands of the 
Constitution were hardly cooled from the welding, 
or as they were in 1860, when they stood, armed 
to the teeth, facing each other, and the cloud of 
revolution was hovering above them soon to burst 
in the dread thunder of civil war. 

Should one, hearing the phrase "the two sec- 
tions," take the map of the American Union and 
study its salient features, he would declare that the 
two sections were by natural geographical division 
the East and the West ; should he study the com- 
merce of the country with its vast currents and 
tides, its fields of agriculture and manufacture, he 
would be impelled to declare that by all the inex- 
orable laws of interest they were the East and the 
West. And yet we who stand amid the incontest- 

277 



278 THE OLD SOUTH 

able evidences of events know that against all laws, 
against all reason, against all right, there are two 
sections of this country, and they are not the East 
and the West, but the South and the rest of the 
Union. 

It is proposed to show briefly why this unhappy 
condition exists ; and to suggest a few things which, 
if earnestly considered and patiently advocated, 
may, in the providence of God, contribute to the 
solution of the distressing difficulties which con- , 
front us. 

The divergence of the " two sections " was coeval 
with the planting of the continent ; it preceded the 
establishment of the nation. It steadily increased 
until an irrepressible conflict became inevitable ; 
and it was not until after this conflict had spent 
itself that reconcilement became possible. 

The causes of that divergence, with the exception 
of one, it is not necessary to discuss. This one has 
survived even the cauterization of war. Other 
causes have passed away. The right of secession 
is no longer an active issue. It has been adjudi- 
cated. That it once existed and was utilized on 
occasion by other States than those which actually 
exercised it is undeniable; that it passed away 
with the Confederate armies at Appomattox is 
equally beyond controversy. The very men who 
once asserted it and shed their blood to establish it, 
would now, whilst still standing by the Tightness 
of their former position, admit that in the light of 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 279 

altered conditions the Union is no longer dissoluble. 
They are ready if need be to maintain the fact. It 
is, however, important to make it clear that the 
right did exist, because on this depends largely the 
South' s place in history. Without this we were 
mere insurgents and rebels ; with it, we were a 
great people in revolution for our rights. In 1861 
the South stood aligned against the Union and 
apparently for the perpetoiation of slavery. The 
sentiment of the whole world was against it. We 
were defeated, overwhelmed. Unless we possess 
strength sufficient to maintain ourselves even in 
the face of this, the verdict of posterity will be 
against us. It is not unlikely that in fifty years 
the defence of slavery will be deemed the world 
over to have been as barbarous as we now deem 
the slave-trade to have been. There is but one 
way to prevent the impending disaster : by estab- 
lishing the real fact, that, whatever may have been 
the immediate and apparent occasion, the true and 
ultimate cause of the action of the South was her 
firm and unwavering adherence to the principle of 
self-government and her jealous devotion to her 
inalienable rights. By perpetuating the true and 
splendid story of the real position of the South, 
and of the heroic stand which she made for her 
rights during those four years of trial, want, and 
battle, we can wrest fame from defeat and establish 
her true place in history. 

But if the other causes which kept the country 



280 THE OLD SOUTH 

divided have passed away as practical issues, one 
still survives and is, under a changed form, as vital 
to-day and as pregnant with evil as it was in 1861. 

This is the question which ever confronts the 
South ; the question which after twenty-five years 
of peace and prosperity still keeps the South " one 
section " and the rest of the nation the other. This 
is the ever-present, ever-menacing, ever-growing 
negro question. 

It is to-day the most portentous as the most 
dangerous problem which confronts the American 
people. 

The question is so misunderstood that even the 
terminology for it in the two sections varies irrec- 
oncilably. The North terms it simply the ques- 
tion of the civil equality of all citizens before the 
law; the South denominates it the question of 
negro domination. More accurately it should be 
termed the race question. 

Whatever its proper title may be, upon its cor- 
rect solution depend the progress and the security, 
if not the very existence, of the American people. 

In order that it may be solved it is necessary, 
first, that its real gravity shall be understood, and 
its true difficulties apprehended. 

We have lived in quietude so long, and have be- 
come so accustomed to the condition of affairs, that 
we are sensible of no apprehension, but rest in the 
face of this as of other dangers, content and calm. 
So rest Alpine dwellers who sleep beneath masses 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 281 

of snow which have accumulated for years, and yet, 
quiet as they appear upon the mountain-sides above, 
may at any time without warning, by the breaking 
of a twig or the fall of a pebble, be transformed 
into the resistless and overwhelming avalanche. 

There are signs of impending peril about us. 

There is, first, the danger incident to the exigence 
under which the South has stood, and is standing, 
of wresting if not of subverting the written law to 
what she deems the inexorable exactions of her 
condition. 

It is charged that the written law is not always 
fully and freely observed at the South in matters 
relating to the exercise of the elective franchise. 
The defence is not so much a denial of the charge 
as it is a confession and avoidance. To the accusa- 
tion it is replied that the written law, when sub- 
verted at all, is so subverted only in obedience to 
a higher law founded on the instinct of self-protec- 
tion and self-preservation. 

If it be admitted that this is true, is it nothing 
to us that a condition exists which necessitates the 
subversion of any law ? Is it not an injury to our 
people that the occasion exists which places them 
in conflict with the law, and compels them to 
assert the existence of a higher duty ? Can law 
be overridden without creating a spirit which will 
override law ? a spirit ready to constitute itself the 
judge of what shall and what shall not be consid- 
ered law ; a spirit which eventually substitutes its 



282 THE OLD SOUTH 

will for law and confounds its interest with right ? 
Is it a small matter that our people or any part of 
them should be compelled, by any exigency what- 
ever, to go armed at any time in any place in 
defiance of law ? 

This is a grave matter and is to be considered 
with due deliberation; for on its right solution 
much depends. The first step to cure is ever com- 
prehension of the disease. The first step toward 
the proper solution of our trouble is to secure a 
perfect comprehension of it. To do this we must 
first comprehend it ourselves, and then only can 
we hope to enlighten others. 

Obedience to law, willing and invariable submis- 
sion to law, is one of the highest qualities of a 
nation, and one of the chief promoters of national 
elevation. Antagonism to law, a spirit which re- 
jects the restraints of law, retards national progress. 

Can any fraud, evasion, or contrivance whatever 
be practised or connived at, without by so much 
impairing the moral sense and character of a people 
as well as of an individual ? Can any deflection 
whatsoever, no matter how inexorable the occasion, 
from the path of absolute rectitude be tolerated 
without inflicting an injury on that sense of justice 
and right, which, allied to unflinching courage, con- 
stitutes a nation's virtue ? Who will say that the 
moral sense of our people now is as lofty as it was 
in the days of our fathers, when men voted with 
uplifted faces for the candidate of their choice ? 



THE NEGRO QTJESTION" 283 

The press of a portion of the land is filled with 
charges of injuries to the negro. The real injury 
is not to him, but to the white. From opposition 
to law to actual lawlessness is but a step. This is 
the first danger. 

The physical peril from the overcrowding among 
our people of an ignorant and hostile race is not 
more real than this which threatens our mora] 
rectitude ; but it is more apparent. 

Senator Hoar of Massachusetts, speaking on the 
floor of the United States Senate on the 23d of Feb- 
ruary, 1889, in speaking of the South, said : 

" I make these remarks with full knowledge of 
the difficult problem that awaits us, and the prob- 
lem that especially concerns our friends south of 
Mason and Dixon's line ; but I remember when I 
make them that the person hears the sound of my 
voice this moment who, in his lifetime, will see 
fifty million negroes dwelling in those States." 

Can language paint in stronger colors the peril 
which confronts us ? The senator went on to 
depict the evils which might ensue. "If you go 
on," he said, "with these methods which are re- 
ported to us on what we deem pretty good evidence, 
you are sowing in the breast of that race a seed 
from which is to come a harvest of horror and 
blood, to which the French Revolution or San Do- 
mingo is light in comparison." 

Senator Hoar, like most others of his latitude, 
thinks that he knows the negro, and understands 



284 THE OLD SOUTH 

the pending question. He does not. Had he under- 
stood the true gravity of that problem, his cheek, 
as he caught the echo of his own words, would have 
blanched at the thought of the peril he is trans- 
mitting to his children and grandchildren ; not the 
peril perhaps of fire and massacre, but a peril as 
deadly, the peril of contamination from the over- 
crowding of an inferior race. All other evils are 
but corollaries ; the evil of race-conflict, though not 
so awful as the French Revolution or San Domingo ; 
the evil of growing armies with their menace to 
liberty ; the evil of race-degeneration from enforced 
and constant association with an inferior race : these 
are some of the perils which spring from that state 
of affairs and confront ns. At one more step they 
confront the rest of the Anglo-American people 
to-day. For the only thing that stands to-day 
between the people of the North and the negro is 
the people of the South. 

The chief difficulty in the solution of the ques- 
tion exists in the different views held as to it by 
the two sections. They do not understand it alike. 
They stand as widely divided as to it to-day as they 
stood twenty-five years ago. Their ultimate inter- 
ests are identical ; their present interests are not 
very widely divergent. Their opposite attitudes as 
to it must, therefore, be due to error somewhere. 
One or the other section must be in error as to it ; 
possibly neither may be exactly right. 

This much we know and can assert : there must 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 285 

be an absolutely right position. It is imperatively 
necessary that we find it ; for on our discovery of 
it and our planting ourselves firmly on it depends 
our security. If we have not found it the sooner 
we realize that fact the better for us and for those 
that shall come after us ; if we have found it the 
sooner we make it understood the better. 

One thing is certain, there is no security in 
silence ; no safety in inaction. If fifty million 
negroes, or even a much smaller number, are to 
come with San Domingo and the French Kevolu- 
tion in their train, the white race has need to 
awake and bestir itself. 

The recent census has happily showed that Sena- 
tor Hoar and others like him have overestimated 
the ratio of increase. 1 But the problem is grave 
enough as it is. 

The first step to be taken is to turn the light on 
the subject. Let it be examined, measured, com- 
prehended, and then dealt with as shall be found to 
be just and right. The old method of crimination 
and defiance will no longer avail ; we must deal 
with the question calmly, rationally, philosophi- 
cally. We must abandon all untenable positions 
whatsoever, place ourselves on the impregnable 

1 The percentage of increase of the negro race is shown to be 
considerably less than that of the white; the percentage of 
deaths among the former race being largely in excess of that of 
the latter. See " Vital Statistics of the Negro," by Frederick 
L. Hoffman, The Arena, April No., p. 529. 



286 THE OLD SOUTH 

ground of right, and then whatever may befall 
meantime, we can calmly await the inevitable jus- 
tification of events. 

In the first place, let us disembarrass ourselves 
by discarding all irrelevant and extraneous ques- 
tions : let us make it primarily understood that the 
pending question has no connection whatever with 
the question of slavery, or with that of disloyalty to 
the Union. Putting aside all mere prejudice what- 
ever, whether springing from the negro's former 
condition of servitude or from other causes, let us 
base our argument on facts and the final issue can- 
not be doubtful. 

Whatever prejudice may exist, a constant, firm, 
and philosophic presentation of the facts of the 
case must in the end establish the truth, and secure 
the right remedy. The spirit of civilization must 
overcome at last, and whatever obstacles it shall 
encounter, right must eventually triumph. 

The North deems the pending question merely 
one of the enforcement or subversion of an elective 
franchise law ; it has never accepted the proposition 
that it is a great race question on which hinges the 
preservation of the Union, the security of the people, 
white and black alike, and the progress of American 
civilization. Perhaps no clearer or more authorita- 
tive exposition of the views held by the North on 
this question can be found than that set forth in 
a recent address by Mr. G. W. Cable delivered be- 
fore the Massachusetts Club of Boston on the 22d 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 287 

of February, 1890. The favor with which it was 
received by the class to whom it was delivered 
testifies not the hostility of that class, but the ex- 
tent to which the question is misunderstood in that 
section. 

Mr. Cable, after negativing the Southern idea of 
the question, declares : " The problem is whether 
American citizens shall not enjoy equal rights in 
the choice of their rulers. It is not a question of 
the negro's right to rule. It is simply a question of 
their right to choose rulers; and as in reconstruction 
days they selected "more white men for office than men 
of their own race, they would probably do so now." 
This is quoted with approval by even so liberal 
and well informed a thinker as the Rev. Henry M. 
Field, who certainly bears only good-will to the 
South, as to the rest of mankind. The endorse- 
ment of these views by such a man proves that 
the North absolutely misapprehends the true ques- 
tion which confronts the nation at this time. It 
has from constant iteration accepted as facts cer- 
tain statements such as those quoted, and these 
constitute its premises, on which it bases all its 
reasoning and all its action. 

The trouble is that its first premise is fallacious. 
Its teachers, its preachers, its writers, its orators, 
its philosophers, its politicians, have with one voice, 
and that a mighty voice, been for a hundred years 
instilling into its mind the uncontradicted doctrine 
that the South brought the negro here and bound 



288 THE OLD SOUTH 

him in slavery ; that the South kept the negro in 
slavery ; that to perpetuate this enormity the South 
plunged the nation in war, and attempted to de- 
stroy the Union; that the South still desires the 
re-establishment of slavery, and that meantime it 
oppresses the negro, defies the North, and stands 
a constant menace to the Union. 

The great body of the Northern people, bred on 
this food, never having heard any other relation, 
believes this implicitly, and all the more dangerously 
because honestly. If they are wrong and we right 
it behooves us to enlighten them. 

There are, without doubt, some whom nothing 
can enlighten ; who would not believe though one 
rose from the dead. They are not confined to one 
latitude. There are, with equal certainty, others 
who for place and profit trade in their brother's 
blood, and keep open the wounds which peace, but 
for them, would long ago have healed; who for a 
mess of pottage would sell the birthright of the 
nation ; the professional Haman can never sleep 
whilst Mordecai so much as sits at the gate ; but 
we can have an abiding faith in the ultimate good 
sense and sound principles of the great Anglo-Saxon 
race wherever it may dwell ; and to this we must 
address ourselves. 

The second thing necessary to the solution of the 
question is to enlighten the people of the North. 
If we can show that the question is not, as Mr. 
Cable states and as the North believes, merely 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 289 

whether the negro shall or shall not have the right 
to choose his ruler, but is a great race question on 
which depends the future as the present salvation 
of the nation, we need have no fear as to the ulti- 
mate result ; sound sense and right judgment will 
prevail. 

That there exists a race question of some sort 
must be apparent to every person who passes 
through the South. Where six millions of people 
of one color and one race live in contact with 
twelve millions of another color and race, there 
must of necessity be a race issue. The negro has 
not behaved unnaturally : he has indeed in the 
main behaved well ; but the race issue exists and 
grows. The feeling has not yet reached the point 
of personal hostility ; at least, on the part of the 
whites ; but as the older generation which knew 
the ties between master and servant passes away, 
the race feeling is growing intenser. The negro 
becomes more assertive ; the white more firm. 

There are a multitude of men and women at the 
North who do not know that slavery ever really 
existed at the North. They may accept it histori- 
cally in a dim, sort of theoretical way, as we accept 
the fact that men and women were once hanged for 
forgery or for stealing a shilling ; but they do not 
take it in as a vital fact. 

Will it not aid the solution of our problem if we 
can show that New England had as much, if not 
more, to do with the establishment of African 



290 THE OLD SOUTH 

slavery on this continent than had the South, 
though it survived longest in the latter section; 
that slavery at the North was, whilst it continued, 
as rigorous a system as ever it was at the South ; 
that abolition was at the North in the main deemed 
as illegal, and its advocates encountered as much 
obloquy there as at the South ; that the emancipa- 
tion of the slaves was effected not by the Northern 
people at large, but by a limited band of enthusi- 
asts and in the wise providence of God ; that the 
emancipation proclamation was not based on the 
lofty moral principle of universal freedom, to which 
it has been the custom to accredit it, but was a war- 
measure, resorted to only on "necessity of war," 
and as a means of restoring the Union ; that the 
investment of the negro with the elective franchise 
was not the result of a high moral sentiment 
founded on the rights of man, but was effected in 
a spirit of heat if not of revenge, and under a 
misapprehension of the true bearing of such an 
act; that the negro has not used the power vested 
in him for the advantage of himself or of any one 
else, but in a reckless, unreasonable, and dangerous 
way ; that whilst there have been cases of injustice 
to him, in the main the restraints thrown around 
him at the South have been merely such as were 
rendered necessary to preserve the South from ab- 
solute and irretrievable ruin; that the same in- 
stincts under which the South has acted, prevail 
at the North ; that the negro has been and is being 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 291 

educated by the South to an extent far beyond his 
right to claim, or the abilities of the white to con- 
tribute to it ; that he is as yet incapable, as a race, 
of self-government; that unless the white race 
continues to assert itself and retains control, a 
large section of the nation will become hopelessly 
Africanized, and American civilization relapse and 
possibly perish ? 

If we can establish the statements which precede 
the last and no relief shall be given, then that one 
also will follow as a necessary consequence. 

Slavery was until within, historically speaking, 
a very recent period, as much a Northern institu- 
tion as it was a Southern one ; it existed in full 
vigor in all of the original thirteen colonies, and 
whilst it existed it was quite as rigorous a system 
at the North as at the South. Every law which 
formed its code at the South had its counterpart in 
the North, and with less reason; for while there 
were at the South not less than 600,000 slaves, — 
Virginia having, by the census of 1790, 293,427, — 
there were at the North, by the census of 1790, less 
than 42,000. 

Regulations not wholly compatible with absolute 
freedom of will are necessary concomitants of any 
system of slavery, especially where the slaves are 
in large numbers ; and it may move the hearts of 
our brethren at the North to greater patience with 
us if we show them that they too are not " without 
sin." Massachusetts has the honor of being the 



292 ' THE OLD SOUTH 

first community in America to legalize the slave- 
trade and slavery by legislative act; the first to 
send out a slave-ship, and the first to secure a 
fugitive slave law. 

Slavery having been planted here, not by the 
South, as has been reiterated until it is the gener- 
ally received doctrine, but by a Dutch ship, which 
in 1619 landed a cargo of " twenty negers " in a 
famished condition at Jamestown ; it shortly took 
general root, and after a time began to flourish. 
Indeed, it flourished here and elsewhere, so that in 
1636, only sixteen years later, a ship, The Desire, 
was built and fitted out at Marblehead as a slaver, 
and thus became the first American slave-ship, but 
by no means the last. In the early period of the 
institution it was conceived that as it was justified 
on the ground that the slaves were heathen, con- 
version to Christianity might operate to emancipate 
them. In Virginia, the leading Southern colony, it 
was adjudicated that this did not so operate ; but 
long prior to that, and whilst it was the accepted 
theory, negroes are shown, by the church records, 
to have been baptized. In Massachusetts, at that 
time, baptism was expressly prohibited. 

The fugitive slave law, which proved ultimately 
and naturally so powerful an excitant in the history 
of slavery, and which is generally believed to have 
been the product of only Southern cupidity and 
brutality, had its prototype in the Articles of the 
Confederation of the United Colonies of New Eng« 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 293 

land (19th May, 1643), in which Massachusetts was 
the ruling colony. " The commissioners of the 
United Colonies found occasion to complain to the 
Dutch governor in New Netherlands in 1646 of the 
fact that the Dutch agent in Hartford had harbored 
a fugitive Indian slave-woman, of whom they say in 
their letter : ' Such a servant is parte of her mas- 
ter's estate, and a more considerable parte than a 
beaste.' A provision for the rendition of fugitives, 
etc., was afterwards made by treaty between the 
Dutch and the English" (Moore's "History of 
Slavery in Massachusetts," p. 28, citing Plymouth 
Colony, Kec. IX. 6, 64, 190). 

Many of the good people of Massachusetts, in 
their zeal and their misapprehension of the facts, 
have been accustomed to regard their own skirts as 
free from all taint whatsoever of the accursed doc- 
trine of property in human beings, and have been 
wont to boast that slavery never existed by virtue 
of law in that grand old Commonwealth, and that 
certainly no human creature was ever born a slave 
on her sacred soil. For refutation one need go no 
further than the work of Mr. George H. Moore, 
entitled " History of Slavery in Massachusetts." 
Mr. Moore was librarian of the Historical Society 
of New York, and corresponding member of the 
Historical Society of Massachusetts. He says, page 
19: "It has been persistently asserted and repeated 
by all sorts of authorities, historical and legal, up to 
that of the chief justice of the Supreme Court of the 



294 THE OLD SOUTH 

Commonwealth, that 'slavery to a certain extent 
seems to have crept in; not probably by force of 
any law, for none such is found or known to exist.' 
Citing Commonwealth vs. Aves, 18 Pick., Shaw, 
C. J." He says further: "In Mr. Sumner's famous 
speech in the Senate, June 28, 1854, he boldly as- 
serted that ' in all her annals no person was ever 
born a slave on the soil of Massachusetts'; and, 
says he, ' if in point of fact the issue of slaves was 
sometimes held in bondage, it was never by sanction 
of any statute law of colony or commonwealth.' 
And 'recent writers of history in Massachusetts 
have assumed a similar lofty and positive tone on 
this subject.' Mr. Palfrey says : ( In fact, no person 
was ever born into legal slavery in Massachusetts ' 
("History New England," II. 30, note); Moore, p. 
21. Mr. Justice Gray, in an elaborate historical 
note to the case of Oliver vs. Sale, Quincy's R. 29, 
says : ' Previously to the adoption of the state consti- 
tution in 1780, negro slavery existed to some extent 
and negroes held in slavery might be sold ; but all 
children of slaves were by law free.' " 

Is it any ground for wonder that with these 
authoritative statements ever iterated and reiter- 
ated before them, the people of Massachusetts 
should really have believed that no child had ever 
been born into slavery on the sacred soil of Massa- 
chusetts, and that slavery itself only existed to 
" some extent " ? 

Mr. Moore, with authorities in hand, shows that 



THIS TSTEGRO QUESTION 295 

tnese efcolrtiutions are unfounded, and states the 
uncomfortable but real facts. He quotes the ninety- 
first article of "The Body of Liberties," which 
appears in the first edition under the head of " Lib- 
reties of Forreiners & Strangers," and in the sec- 
ond edition, that of 1660, under the title of " Bond- 
Slavery." 

" 91. There shall never be any bond-slaverie, vil- 
linage or captivity amongst us unles it be lawfull 
captives taken in just warres, and such strangers 
as willingly sell themselves or are sold to us. 
And these shall have all the liberties and Chris- 
tian usages which the law of God established in 
Israel concerning such persons doeth morally re- 
quire. This exempts none from servitude who 
shall be judged thereto by authoritie" (M. H. S. 
Coll. Ill, VIII. 231). 

After showing the evolution of this law, Mr. 
Moore, on page 18, says : 

"Based on the Mosaic Code, it is an absolute 
recognition of slavery as a legitimate status, and 
of the right of one man to sell himself, as well as 
that of another man to buy him. It sanctions the 
slave-trade and the perpetual bondage of Indians 
and negroes, their children and their children's 
children, and entitles Massachusetts to precedence 
over any and all other colonies in similar legisla- 
tion. It anticipates by many years anything of the 
sort to be found in the statutes of Virginia or 
Maryland, or South Carolina, and nothing like it 



296 THE OLD SOUTH 

is to be found in the contemporary codes of her 
sister colonies in New England" (Compare Hil- 
dreth, I. 278). 

Chief Justice Parsons, in the leading Massachu- 
setts case of Winchendon vs. Hatfield in error, 
referring to the dictum of C. J. Dana in a previous 
case, that a negro born in that colony prior to the 
Constitution of 1780 was free, though born of slave 
parents, admits candidly, "It is very certain that 
the general practice and common usage had been 
opposed to this opinion." 

These and other authorities cited by Mr. Moore 
would seem to place the matter absolutely beyond 
all question. 

Now as to the abolition of slavery : 

What are the historical facts as to this ? It is 
true that slavery had been abolished at the North ; 
but this was under conditions which, had they pre- 
vailed at the South, would have been taken advan- 
tage of there also; and when the institution was 
abolished in the Northern States, it had become so 
unprofitable that no great credit can attach to the 
act of abolition. 1 It is also true that there were 
throughout the North a considerable body of men 
and women who, from a very long time back, be- 
lieved sincerely that human slavery was a crime 

1 " The breeding of slaves was not regarded with favor. Dr. 
Belknap says that negro children were considered an incum- 
brance in a family; and when weaned were given away like pup- 
pies " (Moore, p. 57, citing M. H. S. Coll. 1, IV. 200). 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 297 

against nature, and strove zealously and persist- 
ently to overthrow it. At the South there were 
also many who labored with not less earnestness 
to effect the same end; though, owing to differ- 
ent conditions, the same means could not be em- 
ployed; and, standing face to face with the im- 
mense slave population which existed at the South, 
they saw the same danger which faces us to-day, 
and sought in colonization the means at once to 
abolish slavery, to free America, and to christianize 
Africa. 

As to actual, immediate emancipation, however, 
it was no more the intentional work of the North 
as a people than it was of the South. 

The credit for it, even so far as creating a public 
opinion which rendered it eventually possible, is 
due to a band of emancipators, who, for a long time 
absolutely insignificant in numbers, and ever com- 
paratively few when contrasted with the great body 
of the people of the North, devoted their energies, 
their labors, their lives, to the accomplishment of 
this end. During their labors they encountered no 
less obloquy, and experienced scarcely less peril at 
the North than at the South, with this difference, 
that at the North the outrages perpetrated upon 
them were inspired by a mere sentiment, whilst at 
the South the vast number of slaves made any inter- 
ference with them intolerable, and the treatment 
abolitionists received was based on a recognition of 
the fact that the doctrines they promulgated might 



298 THE OLD SOUTH 

at any moment plunge the South into the horrors 
of insurrection. 

It was not at the South, but at the North, in 
Connecticut, that Prudence Crandall was, for teach- 
ing colored girls, subjected to a persecution as bar- 
barous as it was persistent. After being sued and 
pursued by every process of law which a ISTew 
England community could devise, she was finally 
driven forth into exile in Kansas. 

She opened her school in Canterbury, Connecti- 
cut, in April, 1833, and was at once subjected to the 
bitterest persecution conceivable. It was all well 
enough to hold theories about the equal rights of 
all mankind ; well enough to abuse the institution of 
slavery in Virginia, in South Carolina, in Georgia, or 
in Louisiana; but to actually start "a nigger school" 
in Canterbury, Connecticut, was monstrous. The 
town-meeting promptly voted to " petition for a 
law against the bringing of colored people from 
other towns and States for any purpose, and more 
especially for the purpose of dissemination of the 
principles and doctrines opposed to the benevolent 
colonization scheme." " In May an act prohibiting 
private schools for non-resident colored persons, and 
providing for the expulsion of the latter, was pro- 
cured from the legislature, amid the greatest rejoic- 
ings in Canterbury, even to the ringing of church- 
bells." The most vindictive and inhuman measures 
were adopted against the offender ; the shops and 
meeting-houses were closed against her and her 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 299 

pupils ; " carriage in public conveyances was denied 
them ; physicians would not wait upon them ; Miss 
Crandall's own family and friends were forbidden 
under penalty of heavy fines to visit her ; the well 
was filled with manure, and water from other sources 
refused ; the house itself was smeared with filth, 
assailed with rotten eggs, and finally set on fire " 
("Life of William Lloyd Garrison," I. p. 321). 

It was not at the South, but at Canaan, New 
Hampshire, that on August 10, 1835, " the building 
of the Noyes Academy, open to pupils of both colors, 
in pursuance of a formal town-meeting vote that 
it be 'removed,' was dragged by one hundred yoke 
of oxen from the land belonging to the corporation, 
and left on the common, three hundred yeomen of 
the county participating. The teacher and colored 
pupils were given a month in which to quit the 
town" {lb. p. 494). 

Throughout New England, less than thirty years 
before the promulgation of the emancipation proc- 
lamation abolitionists encountered not only oppro- 
brium but violence. When George Thompson, the 
English abolitionist, went throughout the North in 
1835, "his windows were broken in Augusta, Maine, 
where a State anti-slavery convention was in prog- 
ress, and a committee of citizens requested him to 
leave town immediately under pain of being mobbed 
if he re-entered the convention. At Concord, New 
Hampshire, he was interrupted with missiles while 
addressing a ladies' meeting. At Lowell, Massachu- 



300 THE OLD SOUTH 

setts, on his second visit, in the town hall a brickbat 
thrown from without through the window narrowly- 
escaped his head, and in spite of the manliness of 
the selectmen a meeting the next evening was aban- 
doned in the certainty of fresh and deadly assaults" 
("Life of William Lloyd Garrison," I. p. 452). 

Here is an extract from a letter of Mr. William 
Lloyd Garrison : " Our brother Thompson had a 
narrow escape from the mob at Concord, and Whit- 
tier was pelted with mud and stones " (" Life," p. 
517). 

" At a convention in Lynn, George Thompson was 
stoned. The next evening he was mobbed by three 
hundred men. All this in New England. Finally, 
the English missionary was driven out of the coun- 
try, being in danger, as Garrison wrote, of assassina- 
tion even in the streets of Boston" (Letter from 
Garrison to his wife, November 9, 1835). Indeed, 
mobs were as frequent at that period in New Eng- 
land as they could have been in Virginia or South 
Carolina had the abolitionists attempted to preach 
their doctrines here. William Lloyd Garrison 
himself was assailed and denounced, and even in 
the city of Boston was subjected to the bitterest 
and most persistent persecution. He was notified 
to close up the office of his paper, The Liberator, 
under penalty of tar and feathers. A placard was 
circulated, stating that a purse of one hundred dol- 
lars had been raised to reward the first man who 
should lay hands on the "infamous foreign scoun- 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 301 

drel Thompson/' so that he might be brought to 
the tar-kettle before dark. 

Finally, Garrison himself was mobbed in Boston, 
torn out of the house in which was the office of the 
Anti-Slavery Society, where he was attending a meet- 
ing of women, and was dragged through the streets 
of Boston with a rope around him, and but for the 
cleverness of two sensible men who got him into the 
City Hall he would have been killed. Even there 
he was in such peril that he was put into the jail 
to keep him from the mob, which came near getting 
possession of him a second time. This mob was 
not, as may be supposed, a mob of the creatures 
who usually constitute such an assembly, but is 
said to have been composed of respectable and 
well-dressed persons. Garrison, attacking the mayor 
afterwards, in the press, for not taking his part 
more firmly, declared that if it had been a mob of 
workingmen assaulting a meeting of merchants, 
no doubt he would have acted with energy, "but 
broadcloth and money alter the case," he says 
(Lib. 5, 197). Indeed, the mayor acknowledged 
that "the city government did not very much dis- 
approve of the mob to put down such agitators as 
Garrison and those like him" ("Life of William 
Lloyd Garrison," II. p. 35). 

It is notable that the entire press of Boston, 
with hardly more than one or two exceptions, 
approved the action of the mob and censured Gar- 
rison. 



302 THE OLD SOUTH 

Hear what Garrison himself had to say of it- 

" 1. The outrage was perpetrated in Boston, the 
cradle of liberty, the city of Hancock and Adams, 
the headquarters of refinement, literature, intelli- 
gence, and religion. No comments can add to the 
infamy of this fact. 

" 2. It was perpetrated in the open daylight of 
heaven, and was therefore most unblushing and 
daring in its features." 

"4. It was dastardly beyond precedent, as it 
was an assault of thousands upon a small body of 
helpless females. Charleston and New Orleans 
have never acted so brutally. 

"5. It was planned and executed, not by the 
rabble or the workingmen, but by ' gentlemen of 
property and standing, from all parts of the city,' 
— and now (October 25th) that time has been 
afforded for reflection, it is still either openly 
justified or coldly disapproved by the 'highei 
classes,' and exultation among them is general 
throughout the city. ..." 

" 7. It is evidently winked at by the city authori- 
ties. No efforts have been made to arrest the lead- 
ing lis/tdESL . -. .. 

All of this was within three years of the time 
when a bill to abolish slavery in Virginia W& 
failed in her General Assembly by only one vote. 

There is surely no necessity to pile up more 
authority on this point. If there were it could be 
done ; for not only in New England, but elsewhere 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 303 

in the North, instances can be cited in which vio- 
lence, and once even murder, occurred. Elijah P. 
Lovejoy, after having his printing office sacked 
three times, fell a martyr to the ferocity of a mob 
in Illinois for having, under an instinct of humanity, 
aided a fugitive slave to escape. On one thing, how- 
ever, the North may with justice pride itself : that 
in the end, there was awakened in it a general senti- 
ment for emancipation. For this it was indebted to 
a work of genius produced by a woman ; a romance 
which touched the heart of Christendom. " Uncle 
Tom's Cabin " overruled the Supreme Court of the 
United States, and abrogated the Constitution. By 
arousing the general sentiment of the world against 
slavery, it contributed more than any other one 
thing to its abolition in that generation. 

But not even then did the North set out to 
abolish slavery. President Lincoln is universally 
accredited as the emancipator of the African. It 
is his hand which is represented in bronze and 
marble as striking the shackles from the slave. 
He was the chosen and great standard-bearer of the 
most advanced element of the North, the great rep- 
resentative of their ideas, the idolized chief magis- 
trate, and the trusted commander of their armies. 

His words on this subject must be authoritative. 

On the 22d of December, 1860, after South Caro- 
lina had seceded, he says : " Do the Southern people 
really entertain fears that a Kepublican administr?' 
tion would directly or indirectly interfere with J.>, 



304 THE OLD SOUTH 

slaves or with them about their slaves ? . . . The 
South would be in no more danger in this respect 
than it was in the days of Washington." 

On the 4th of March, 1861, in his official utter- 
ance, his inaugural address, he says : " I have no 
purpose directly or indirectly to interfere with the 
institution of slavery in the States where it now 
exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, 
and I have no inclination to do so." 

If there can possibly be a more authoritative 
declaration than this, we have it in a resolution 
passed by Congress of the United States, and signed 
by Lincoln as President in July, 1861, after the 
battle of Manassas : 

" Resolved . . . that this war is not waged upon 
our part in any spirit of oppression, nor for any 
purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor purpose of 
overthrowing or interfering with the rights or estab- 
lished institutions of those States, but to defend 
and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution and 
to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality, 
and rights of the several States unimpaired," etc. 

Slave-holding even in Federal territory was not 
forbidden until June 19, 1862, which was just a 
month before the bill was passed providing that 
all "slaves of persistent rebels found in any place 
occupied or commanded by the forces of the Union 
should not be returned to their masters [as they 
had hitherto been under the law], and providing 
that they might be enlisted to fight for the Union." 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 305 

A Constitutional Amendment (the thirteenth), 
abolishing and prohibiting evermore the enslave- 
ment of human beings, failed to pass in the House 
of Representatives in the session of 1864, and would 
have failed altogether had not a member from 
Ohio changed his vote in order to move a recon- 
sideration and keep it alive till the following ses- 
sion, when Mr. Lincoln having been re-elected, 
and having recommended its passage, and the war 
being evidently near its end, it was passed by a 
vote of 119 yeas to 57 noes. 

Indeed, before Mr. Lincoln issued his emancipa- 
tion proclamation he gave one hundred days' warn- 
ing to the revolutionary States to lay down their 
arms, and in the proclamation he places the entire 
matter forever at rest by declaring in terms in 
that unmistakable English of which he was a mas- 
ter that the measure was adopted " upon military 
necessity." 

No one can read this record and not admit that 
slavery was abolished in the providence of God, 
against the intention of the North and of the 
South alike, because its purpose had been accom- 
plished, and the time was ripe for its ending. 

The next step is the discussion of the attitude 
in which we, the white people of the South, stand 
to the negro. This attitude is too striking, if not 
too anomalous, not to have attracted wide atten- 
tion. A race with an historic and glorious past, in 
a high stage of civilization, stands confronted by 



306 THE OLD SOUTH 

a race of their former slaves, invested with every 
civil and political right which they themselves pos- 
sess, and supported by an outside public senti- 
ment, which if not inimical to the dominant race, 
is at least unsympathetic. The two races cannot 
be termed with exactness hostile, — in many re- 
spects, not even unfriendly; but they are suspi- 
cious of each other; their interests are in some 
essential particulars conflicting, and in others may 
easily be made so ; the former slave race is politi- 
cally useful to the outsiders by whose sentiment 
they are sustained, and the former dominant race 
is unalterably assertive of the imperative necessity 
that it shall govern the inferior race and not be 
governed by it. 

Now what is the question ? Is it merely the 
question, as stated by Mr. Cable, "whether the 
negro shall not have the right to choose his own 
rulers " ; or is it a great race issue between the 
negro and the white ? 

If it is a question of mere perverse imposition 
by the white on the black, by the stronger on the 
weaker, a refusal to recognize his just rights, then 
the advocates of that side are right. If, however, it 
be the other, then the stronger race should be sus- 
tained, or else the people of the North are guilty 
of the fatuity which destroys nations. 

The chief complication of the matter arises from 
the possession of the elective franchise by the newly 
emancipated negro, and the peculiar circumstances 



THE NEGBO QUESTION 807 

which surround this possession. The very method 
of the bestowal of this franchise was pregnant with 
baleful results. It was given him not as a righteous 
and reasonable act ; not because he was considered 
capable of exercising the highest function of citizen- 
ship, the making of laws, and the execution of 
laws ; not with the philosophic deliberation which 
should characterize an act by which four millions 
of new citizens of a distinct and inferior race are 
suddenly added to the nation; but in heat, in a 
spirit of revenge, and chiefly because the cabal 
which then controlled the republic thought that 
with the negro as an ally it could govern the South 
and perpetuate its own power. The South, just 
from the furious struggle of war, physically pros- 
trate, but with its dauntless spirit unbroken, con- 
fiding in its own integrity of purpose, and vainly 
believing that as the Constitution was the aegis 
under which the North had claimed to fight, the 
constitutional rights for which it had itself con- 
tended would be observed and respected, accepted 
the emancipation of the negro, but not unnaturally 
found itself unwilling, indeed unable, to accept all 
that this emancipation might import. The North 
partly in distrust of the sincerity of even the meas- 
ure of acceptance which the South admitted ; partly 
in the belief in the minds of a considerable portion 
of its people that the negro might thus be elevated, 
and that he would, at least, be enabled to protect 
himself; but mainly to govern the intrepid and 



308 THE OLD SOUTH 

difficult South, at the instance of the partisan 
leaders who then directed the destinies of the 
republic, struck down constitutional government 
throughout the South, and restored it only when 
it had placed it in the negro's hands. 

No such act of fatuity ever emanated from a 
nation. Justification it can have none; its best 
excuse must be that it was accomplished under a 
certain enthusiasm just after a bitter war, and 
before passion had cooled sufficiently for reason to 
reassert her sway. It was a people's insanity. 
The "Reconstruction of the South" was, on the 
part of the people of the North at large, simply 
that which in national life is worse than a crime, a 
blunder ; on the part of the leaders who planned it 
and carried it through, it was a cool, deliberate, 
calculated act, violative of the terms on which the 
South had surrendered and disbanded her broken 
armies, and perpetrated for the purpose of securing 
not peace, not safety, not righteous acknowledg- 
ment of lawfully constituted authority, but per- 
sonal power, to the leaders of the party which at 
that time was dominant, power with all that it 
implied of gain and revenge. For this they took 
eight millions of the Caucasian race, a people 
which in their devotion and their self-sacrifice, in 
their transcendent vigor of intellect, their intrepid 
valor in the field, and their fortitude in defeat, 
had just elevated their race in the eyes of mankind, 
and placed them under the domination of their 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 309 

former slaves. There is nothing like it in modern 
history. 

Within two months after Lee's surrender at Ap- 
pomattox there was not a Confederate within the 
limits of the Southern States who had not accepted 
honestly the status of affairs. On the 18th of 
December, 1865, General Grant, who had been sent 
through the South to inspect and make a report on 
its condition, in his report to the President said : 

"I am satisfied the mass of thinking men in the 
South accept the present situation of affairs in 
good faith. The questions which have hitherto 
divided the sentiment of the people of the two sec- 
tions — slavery and State-rights, or the right of the 
State to secede from the Union, — they regard as 
having been settled forever by the highest tribunal, 
that of arms, that man can resort to." 

Shortly after the assembling of Congress in 
December, 1865, the President was able to report 
that the people of North Carolina, South Carolina, 
Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, 
and Tennessee had reorganized their State govern- 
ments. The conventions of the seceding States 
had all repealed or declared null and void the ordi- 
nances of secession. The laws were in full opera- 
tion, and the States were in reality back in the 
Union, with duly elected representatives, generally 
men who had been Union men, waiting to be ad- 
mitted to Congress when it should assemble. 

Had Lincoln but been here, how different might 



310 THE OLD SOOTH 

have been the story ! His wisdom, his sound sense, 
his catholic spirit, his pride in the restored Union 
which he had preserved, his patriotism, would have 
governed. For two years the influence of his views 
remained too potent to be overcome. Johnson, 
who had not much love for the South, had caught 
enough of his liberal and patriotic spirit to attempt 
the continuance of his pacific, constitutional, and 
sagacious policy. But he lacked his wisdom, and 
by the end of two years the dominent will of Thad. 
Stevens and his lieutenants had sufficiently depraved 
public opinion to bend it to their pleasure and 
subvert it to their purpose. Thad. Stevens gave the 
keynote. On the 14th of December, 1865, he said : 
" According to my judgment they (the insurrection- 
ary States) ought never to be recognized as capable 
of acting in the Union, or of being counted as valid 
States, until the Constitution shall have been so 
amended as to make it what its makers intended, 
and so as to secure perpetual ascendency to the party 
of the Union." 

Charles Sumner was not behind him. He de- 
clared in January, 1867, that unless universal 
suffrage were conferred on all negroes in the dis- 
organized States, "you will not secure the new 
allies who are essential to the national cause." 

In pursuance of the scheme of Stevens, in March, 
1867, acts were passed by Congress, virtually wip- 
ing out the States of Virginia, North and South 
Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, 



THE NEGRO QUESTION" 311 

Arkansas, Florida, and Texas, and dividing the ter- 
ritory into military districts, under military rulers, 
who were to hare absolute power over life, property, 
and liberty, subject only to the proviso that death 
sentences should be approved by the President. 

When they were again created States, and brought 
back into the Union, the whites had been disfran- 
chised, and the negro had been created a voter, 
drafted into the Union League, drilled under his 
carpet-bag officers, and accepted as the new ally 
through whom was to be secured "the perpetual 
ascendency of the party of the Union." 

Lincoln in his wisdom and patriotism had never 
dreamt of such a thing. His only "suggestion" 
had been to let in " some of the colored people, . . . 
as, for instance, the very intelligent." (Lincoln's 
letter to Governor Hahn, March 13, 1864.) 

The history of that period, of the reconstruction 
period of the South, has never been fully told. It 
is only beginning to be written. A valuable contri- 
bution to it, entitled "Noted Men on the Solid 
South," has recently appeared, and to the papers 
comprised in it I am indebted for much material in 
this branch of my subject. When that history 
shall be told it will constitute the darkest stain on 
the record of the American people. The sole ex- 
cuse which can be pleaded at the bar of posterity, is 
that the system was inaugurated in a time of excite- 
ment which was not short of frenzy. 

Ever since the negro was given the ballot he has, 



312 THE OLD SOUTH 

true to his teaching, steadily remained the ally of 
the party which gave it to him, following its lead 
with more than the obedience of the slave, and on 
all issues, in all times, opposing the respectable 
white element with whom he dwelt with a steadfast 
habitude which is only explicable on the ground of 
steadfast purpose. The phenomenon has been too 
marked to escape observation. The North has 
drawn from it the not unnatural inference that the 
negro is oppressed by the white, and thus asserts 
at once his independence and attempts to obtain 
his rights. The South, knowing that he is not 
oppressed, draws therefrom the juster inference 
that he naturally, wilfully, and inevitably aligns 
himself against the white simply upon a race line 
and stands, irrespective of reason, in persistent op- 
position to all measures which have their advocacy. 

The North sees in the negro's attitude only the 
proper and laudable aspiration of a citizen and a 
man ; the South detects therein a determination to 
dominate, a menace to all that the Anglo-American 
race has effected on this continent, and to the 
hopes in which that race established this nation. 

To ascertain which is the correct view it is well 
at this point to examine the negro himself and his 
capacity as a citizen. 

In discussing this matter we are fortunately not 
relegated to the shadowy and uncertain domain of 
mere theory ; we can base our argument on the 
firm and assured foundation of actual experience. 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 313 

In the first place, whatever a sentimental philan- 
thropy may say ; whatever a modern and misguided 
humanitarianism may declare, there underlies the 
whole matter the indubitable, potent, and myste- 
rious principle of race quality. Scientifically, his- 
torically, congenitally, the white race and the negro 
race differ. 

Slavery will not alone account for it all. In the 
recorded experience of mankind slavery — mere 
slavery — has not repressed intelligence; the bonds 
of the person however tightly drawn have not 
served to shackle the mind. Slavery existed among 
the Greeks, the Eomans, the Phoenicians, among 
our own ancestors of the Teuton race ; slavery as 
absolute, as inexorable as ever was African slavery. 
Indeed, under some of those systems there was 
absolute chattel slavery, which never existed with 
us, for the Greek and the Roman possessed over 
their slaves the absolute power of life and death ; 
they might slay them as an exhibition for their 
guests, or might cast them into their fish-ponds as 
food for their lampreys. 

Yet under these systems, differentiated from 
African slavery by the two conditions of race simi- 
larity and intellectual potentiality, slaves attained 
not unfrequently to high position, and from them 
issued some of the most notable productions of 
those times ; iEsop, Terence, Epictetus the Stoic 
were slaves. These and many more have proved 
that where the intellectual potentiality exists it 



314 THE OLD SOUTH 

will burst through the encumbering restraints of 
servitude, and establish the truth that bondage 
cannot enthrall the mind. 

What of value to the human race has the negro 
mind as yet produced? In art, in mechanical 
development, in literature, in mental and moral 
science, in all the range of mental action, no notable 
work has up to this time come from a negro. 

In the earliest records of the human race, the 
monuments of Egypt and Syria, he is depicted as a 
slave bearing burdens ; after tens of centuries he 
is still a menial. Four thousand years have not 
served to whiten the pigments of the frame, nor 
developed the forces of the intellect. The leopard 
cannot change his spots to-day, nor the Ethiopian 
his skin, any more than they could in the days of 
Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah. 

It is not argued that because a negro is a negro 
he is incapable of any intellectual development. On 
the contrary, my observation has led me to think 
that under certain conditions of intellectual envi- 
ronment, of careful training, and of sympathetic 
encouragement from the stronger races he may 
individually attain a fair, and in uncommon in- 
stances a considerable degree, of mental develop- 
ment. To deny this is to deny the highest attri- 
bute of the intellectual essence, and is to shut the 
door of hope upon a race of God's human creatures 
to whom I give my sympathy and my good-will. 
But the incontestable proof is that such cases of 



THE NEGKO QUESTION 315 

intellectual development are exceptional instances, 
and that after long, elaborate, and ample trial the 
negro race has failed to discover the qualities 
which have inhered in every race of which his- 
tory gives the record, which has advanced civili- 
zation, or has shown capacity to be itself greatly 
advanced. 

Where the negro has thriven it has invariably 
been under the influence and by the assistance of 
the stronger race. Where these have been wanting, 
whatever other conditions have existed, he has 
invariably and sensibly reverted towards the orig- 
inal type. Liberia, Hayti, Congo, are all in one 
line. 

His history on his native continent is pregnant. 
Far as the East is from the West, negro- Africa is 
from the land of civilization. Generations have 
come and gone ; centuries have followed centuries ; 
peoples have succeeded peoples ; nations have been 
grafted on nations, more and more crowned with 
the sunlight of progress and of civilization; but 
no faintest beam has ever pierced the impenetrable 
gloom of the "Dark Continent," and the African 
explorer's latest book is " Darkest Africa." 

This has not been because opportunity has been 
wanting. Civilization first lit her golden torch 
upon her borders. The swelling waters of the Nile 
spread through a lettered and partly enlightened 
people when the Tiber crept through swamps and 
wilderness; when the Acropolis was a wild, and 



316 THE OLD SOUTH 

the seven hills of the Eternal City a range for 
wolves, Thebes and Memphis and Heliopolis con- 
tained a civilization which in some of its mani- 
festations has never been equalled since. Rome 
stretched across the Mediterranean, and sent her 
civilizing power along the northern shore of the 
continent ; and later, the Moors possessed a civili- 
zation there which is yet a marvel even to our race. 
In that record which all Christendom holds as its 
most precious possession we catch glimpses of a 
commerce and even of a civilization situate some- 
where within the boundaries of Africa, and meeting 
that of the greatest monarch of the time. The 
curtain suddenly lifts and we get a view all the 
more dazzling, because so mysterious, of a queen of 
Ethiopia coming with wonderful gifts to visit Solo- 
mon himself. 

Since then civilization has swept triumphant 
over a large part of the earth. Only the land of 
the negro has never yielded to her illumining and 
vivifying influence. The Roman has succeeded 
the Greek ; the Gaul and the Frank have risen on 
the Roman ; the Teuton, the Saxon, and the Celt 
have surpassed the Gaul. Only in negro-Africa has 
barbarism held unbroken rule, and savagery main- 
tained perpetual dominion. 

Stanley, Ward, Glave and Emin Pasha found but 
a year or two since the great Congo country as bar- 
barous, as savage, as cannibal, as it was five thou- 
sand years ago, province preying on province, and 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 317 

village feeding on village, as debased and brutish 
as the beasts of the jungle about them. 

But it is not only in Africa that the negro has 
exhibited the absence of the essential qualities of 
a progressive race. It is everywhere. Since the 
dawn of history, the negro has been in one place 
or another, in Egypt, in Rome, in other European 
countries, brought in contact with civilization, yet 
he has failed to receive the vitalizing current under 
which other races have risen in greater or less 
degree. 

Here in America for over two hundred years he 
has been under the immediate influence of the most 
potent race the world has known, and within the 
sweep of the ripest period of the world's history. 

It may be charged that as a slave he has never 
had an opportunity to give his faculties that exer- 
cise which is necessary to their development. But 
the answer is complete. He has not been a slave 
in all places, at all times. In Africa he was not 
a slave, save to himself and his own instincts ; in 
Borne he was no more a slave than was the Teu- 
ton, the Greek, or the Gaul ; in New England he 
has not been a slave for over a hundred years, and 
may be assumed to have had there as much encour- 
agement, and to have received as sustaining an 
influence as will ever be accorded him by the white. 
What has been the result even in New England ? 

Dr. Henry M. Field has recently written a book of 
travels in the South and of his reflections thereon. 



318 THE OLD SOUTH 

Dr. Field comes of a distinguished Northern family, 
of which the whole country is proud. He is a 
close observer, a fair recorder, and the friend of 
the whole human race. He will not be accused 
of prejudice. Speaking of the present intellectual 
condition of the negro in Massachusetts, he says : 

" Yet here we are doomed to great disappoint- 
ment. The black man has had every right that 
belongs to his white neighbor ; not only the natu- 
ral rights which, according to the Declaration of 
Independence, belong to every hixman being, — the 
right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, 
— but the right to vote, and to have a part in mak- 
ing the laws. He could own his little home, and 
there sit under his own vine and fig-tree with none 
to molest or make him afraid. His children could 
go to the same common schools, and sit on the 
same benches, and learn the same lessons as white 
children. 

" With such advantages, a race that had natural 
genius ought to have made great progress in a hun- 
dred years. But where are the men that it should 
have produced to be the leaders of their people ? 
We find not one who has taken rank as a man of 
action or a man of thought; as a thinker or a 
writer ; as artist or poet ; as discoverer or inventor. 
The whole race has remained on one dead level of 
mediocrity. 

" If any man ever proved himself a friend of the 
African race it was Theodore Parker, who endured 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 319 

all sorts of persecution and social ostracism, who 
faced mobs and was hissed and hooted in public 
meetings, for his bold championship of the rights 
of the negro race. But rights are one thing, and 
capacity is another. And while he was ready to 
fight for them he was very despondent as to their 
capacity for rising in the scale of civilization. 
Indeed, he said in so many words, ' In respect to 
the power of civilization, the African is at the 
bottom, the American Indian next.' In 1857 he 
wrote to a friend : ' There are inferior races which 
have always borne the same ignoble relation to the 
rest of men and always will. In two generations 
what a change there will be in the condition and 
character of the Irish in New England. But in 
twenty generations the negro will stand just where 
they are now; that is, if they have not disap- 
peared.' " Dr. Field goes on : 

"That was more than thirty years ago. But 
to-day I look about me here in Massachusetts, and 
I see a few colored men ; but what are they doing ? 
They work in the fields, they hoe corn, they dig 
potatoes ; the women take in washing. I find colored 
barbers and white-washers, shoe-blacks and chim- 
ney-sweeps ; but I do not know a single man who 
has grown to be a merchant or a banker, a judge 
or a lawyer, a member of the legislature or a jus- 
tice of the peace, or even a selectman of the town. 
In all these respects they remain where they were 
in the days of our fathers. The best friends of the 



320 THE OLD SOUTH 

colored race, of whom I am one, must confess that 
it is disappointing and discouraging to find that 
with all these opportunities they are little removed 
from where they were a hundred years ago." 1 

But suppose that the statements of others, whose 
observation has enabled them to pick out a well-to- 
do lawyer or dentist or doctor or restaurateur, be 
different, it only proves that in individual instances 
they may rise to a fair level ; it simply emphasizes 
the fact that these are exceptions to the great rule, 
and does not in the least affect the argument which 
is that the negroes as a race have never exhibited 
any capacity to advance ; that as a race they are 
inferior. 

Opportunity is afforded us to examine the negro's 
progress in two countries in which a civilization 
was created for him, and he was surrounded by 
every condition helpful to progress. 

The first is Liberia : here he had a model republic 
founded by the Caucasian solely for his benefit, 
with freedom grafted in its name. It was founded 
in as splendid hopes as even this republic itself. 
Christendom gave it its assistance and its prayers. 
How has the negro progressed there ? Let one of 
his own race tell the story, one who was thought 
competent to represent there the United States. 
Mr. Charles H. J. Taylor, late Minister from the 
United States to Liberia, has given a picture of life 
in Liberia, which cannot be equalled save in some 
i " Sunny Skies and Dark Shadows," p. 144. 



THE NEGKO QUESTION 321 

other country under the same rule. He says, in a 
paper published in the Kansas City Times, April 
22, 1888 : 

" Not a factory, mill, or workshop, of any kind, 
is to be found there. They (the government) have 
no money or currency in circulation of any kind. 
They have no boats of any character, not even a 
canoe, the two gun-boats England gave them lying 
rotten on the beach." ... " Look from morn till 
night you will never see a horse, a mule, a donkey, 
or a broken-in ox. They have them not. There 
is not a buggy, a wagon, a cart, a slide, a wheel- 
barrow, in the four counties. The natives carry 
everything on their heads." The whole picture 
presented is hopeless. 

If this were an isolated picture we might think 
that climatic influences or the proximity of a great 
savage continent had affected the result. But we 
have nearer home a yet more striking illustration, 
a yet more convincing proof that the real cause was 
the negro's inability to govern, his incapacity to 
rise. 

For a hundred years now the negro has cast his 
influence over sundry of the West Indies, and has 
had sole possession of one. With this republic 
constructed by our fathers before him for a model, 
he has since 1804 been masquerading at governing 
Hayti, one of the most fertile spots that Spain ever 
ruled. 

A more fantastic mummery never disgraced a 



322 THE OLD SOUTH 

people or degraded a land. From the time of Tous. 
saint L'Ouverture to the present there has not been 
a break in the darkness which settled upon San 
Domingo. 

The bloody Dessalines aping Napoleon, and with 
the oath of allegiance to the republic yet warm on 
his lips, crowning himself "Emperor" of half an 
island, the brutal G-onaives, Boyer, Soulouque, and 
their like, following each other, each as brutal and 
swinish as the other, or with degrees limited only 
by their capacity, present a picture such as history 
cannot duplicate. 

We have accounts of Hayti by two Englishmen, 
one the historian Froude, the other, Sir Spencer 
St. John, for years British resident at Hayti, both 
of whom assert that they have no race antipathy, 
and what a picture do they present ! San Domingo, 
once the Queen of the Antilles, has in less than a 
hundred years of negro rule sunk well-nigh into a 
state of primeval barbarism. 

Sir Spencer St. John, in his astounding work "The 
Black Republic," has given a picture of Hayti under 
negro rule which is enough to give pause alike to 
the wildest theorist and the most vindictive par- 
tisan. He takes pains to tell us that he has lived 
for thirty -five years among colored people of various 
races, and has no prejudice against them ; that the 
most frequent and not the least honored guests at 
his table in Hayti for twelve years were of the black 
and colored races. The picture he has presented 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 323 

is the blackest ever drawn : revolution succeeding 
revolution, and massacre succeeding massacre ; the 
country once, under white rule, teeming with wealth 
and covered with beautiful villas and plantations, 
with "a considerable foreign commerce, now in a 
state of decay and ruin, without trade or resources 
of any kind, peculation and jobbery paramount in 
all public offices " ; barbarism substituted for civili- 
zation, Voudou worship in place of Christianity, 
and oftener than once human flesh actually sold in 
the market-place of Port au Prince, the capital of 
the country. 

Sir Spencer St. John says that a Spanish colleague 
once said to him : "If we could return to Hayti fifty 
years hence, we should find the negresses cooking 
their bananas on the site of these warehouses." 
On which he remarks : " It is more than proba- 
ble — unless in the meantime influenced by some 
higher civilization — that this prophecy will come 
true. The negresses are, in fact, cooking their 
bananas amid the ruins of the best houses of the 
capital." 

If it shall seem to those who have no actual 
knowledge upon the subject that I have overdrawn 
the picture, I would refer them to the papers which 
I have cited, and the works which I have quoted, 
and to the great body of the Southern people who 
have had experience of what negro domination 
imports. 

What has been stated has been said in no feeling 



824 THE OLD SOUTH 

of personal hostility, or even unfriendliness to the 
negro, for I have no unfriendliness towards any 
negro on earth ; on the contrary, I have a feeling 
of real friendliness towards many of that race, and 
am the well-wisher of the whole people. 

What is said in this paper is said under a sense 
of duty, with the hope and in the belief that it may 
serve to call attention to the real facts in the case ; 
that it may help to discard from the discussion all 
mere sentimentality or prejudice, and to base the 
future consideration of the matter upon the only 
solid ground — the ground of naked fact. 

These examples cited, if they establish anything, 
establish the fact that the negro race does not pos- 
sess, in any development which he has yet attained, 
the elements of character, the essential qualifica- 
tions to conduct a government, even for himself, 
and that if the reins of government be intrusted to 
his unaided hands, he will fling reason to the winds, 
and drive to ruin. Were this, however, only Hayti 
or Liberia, we might bear it with such philosophic 
patience as our philanthropy admits of, but we have 
nearer home a proof not less overwhelming of this 
truth. The negro has had control of the govern, 
ment in the Southern States ; for eight years a 
number of Southern States were partly, and thre& 
of them were wholly, given up to the control of the 
negroes, directed by men of, at least, ability and 
experience, and sustained by the invigorating influ- 
ence of the entire North. 



THE NEGKO QUESTION 325 

The reconstruction acts gave the black the abso- 
lute right of suffrage, and disfranchised the whites. 
The negro was invested with absolute power, and 
turned loose. He selected his rulers. The entire 
weight of the government — an immense force — 
was under the misapprehension, born of the excite- 
ment which then reigned, thrown blindly in their 
favor ; whatever they asserted was believed ; what- 
ever they demanded was done ; the ballot was given 
them, and all the forms established by generations 
of Caucasian patriots and jurists, and consecrated 
by centuries of Caucasian blood, were solemnly set 
up and solemnly followed. The negro then selected 
his own rulers. The negro had thus his oppor- 
tunity then, if ever. The North had put him up as 
a citizen against the protest of the South, and stood 
obliged to sustain him. What was the result ? 
Such a riot of folly and extravagance, such a trav- 
esty of justice, such a mummery of government as 
was never witnessed, save in those countries in 
which he had himself furnished the illustration. 

In Virginia, where the negroes were in a numeri- 
cal minority and where the prowess of the whites 
had been but now displayed before their eyes in an 
impressive manner which they could not forget, we 
escaped the inconveniences of carpet-baggism, and 
the Hunnycuts, Underwoods, and such vultures 
kept the carcass for their own picking, and were 
soon gorged and put to flight. But it was not so 
where the negroes were in a large majority; in 



326 THE OLD SOUTH 

South Carolina, in Louisiana, in Mississippi, and in 
other Southern States there was a very carnival of 
riot and rapine. 

Space will not permit the going into detail. I 
can only refer to one or two facts, from which the 
whole dreadful story may be gathered. Louisiana 
will be first cited. 

Warmouthism and Kellogism, in Louisiana, and 
carpet-baggism generally, with all their environ- 
ments of chicanery and venality, and all their train 
of poverty and profligacy, cannot be done justice 
to in a paper of this character. I would refer to 
the valuable paper contributed by the Hon. B. J. 
Sage, to the series which has recently been brought 
out in a volume under the head of " Noted Men on 
the Solid South," to which volume acknowledgment 
is made for much of my material in this branch 
of my subject. Such a relation of theft, debauch- 
ery, and crime has not been found outside of those 
countries in which carpet-baggism has ruled, with 
the negro as its facile and ignorant instrument. 

In Louisiana, soon after Warmouth came into 
office, he stated in his message of 4th January, 1868, 
to his legislature : " Our debt is smaller than that 
of almost any State in the Union, with a tax -roll of 
$251,000,000, and a bonded debt that can at will be 
reduced to $6,000,000. There is no reason that our 
credit should not be at par." This was too good 
a field for Warmouth and his associates to lose. 
Says Mr. Sage : " The census of 1870 showed the 



THE 2STEGR0 QUESTION 327 

debt of the State to have increased to $25,021,734, 
and that of the parishes and niuncipalities to 
$ 28,065,707. Within a year the State debt was 
increased fourfold, and the local indebtedness had 
doubled. Louisiana, according to the census, stood, 
in the matter of debt, at the head of the Union " 
("Noted Men on the Solid South," p. 404). 

This was but the beginning. The total cost of 
four years and five months of Eepublican rule 
amounted to $106,020,337, or $24,040,089 per year. 
"To this," says Mr. Sage, "must be added the 
privileges and franchises given away and the State 
property stolen" (J6. p. 406). Taxation went up in 
proportion — in some places to 7 or 8 per cent (lb- 
p. 406) ; in others as high as 16 per cent (Dr. Henry 
M. Field, " Bright Skies and Dark Shadows ") . This 
was confiscation. 

The public printing of the State had, in previous 
years, cost about $37,000 per year. During the 
first two years of Warmouth's regime the New 
Orleans Republican, in which he was a principal 
stockholder, received $1,140,881.77 for public print- 
ing ("Noted Men on the Solid South," p. 408). 

When Warmouth ran for governor, he was so 
poor that a mite chest was placed beside the ballot 
box to receive contributions to pay his expenses to 
Washington. When he had been in office only a 
year, it was estimated that he was worth $225,000, 
and when he retired he was said to have had one of 
the largest fortunes in Louisiana. 



328 THE OLD SOUTH 

The Louisiana State Lottery, with all the de- 
bauchery of morals and sentiment which it has 
occasioned, was chartered by Warmouth and his 
gang, and is a legacy which they have left to the 
people of that State, an octopus which they have 
vainly striven to shake off. Time fails to tell of 
the rapine, the vice, the profligacy in which the 
government — State and municipal — was the prize 
which was tossed about like a shuttlecock, from 
one faction to the other; of the midnight orders 
to seize the government, the carnival of corruption 
and crime, until the whites were forced to band 
themselves into a league to prevent absolute an- 
archy. It suffices to say that it was in Louisiana 
under negro rule that troops were marched into the 
State House, and drove out the assembled repre- 
sentatives of the State, at the point of the bayo- 
net, a thing which has happened during peace only 
twice before in the history of modern civilization, 
once under Cromwell and once under Napoleon. 

" The vampire Warmouthism had reduced the 
wealth of New Orleans from $146,718,790 at War- 
mouth's advent, to $88,613,930 at Kellog's exit — 
a net decline of $58,104,860 in eight years ; while 
real estate in the country parishes had shrunk in 
value from $99,266,839.85 to $47,141,696, or about 
one-half. During this period the Republican lead- 
ers had squandered nearly $150,000,000, giving 
the State little or nothing to show therefor " {lb. 
p. 427.) 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 329 

In Mississippi the corruption was almost as 
great, and the result almost as disastrous. The 
State levy for 1871 was four times what it was in 
1869 ; for 1872 it was four times as great ; for 

1873 it was eight and a half times as great; for 

1874 it was fourteen times as great. Six million 
four hundred thousand acres of land, comprising 
20 per cent of all the lands in the State, had been 
forfeited for non-payment of taxes. 

In South Carolina, if it were possible, the situa- 
tion was even worse, and the paper contributed to 
the series to which I have already alluded, by the 
Hon. John J. Hemphill, to which I wish to acknowl- 
edge my indebtedness, outlines briefly the condition 
of affairs, and presents a picture which ought to be 
read by every man in the Union. The General As- 
sembly, which convened in 1868, in Columbia, con- 
sisted of 72 whites and 85 negroes. In the house 
were 14 Democrats, and in the senate 7; the re- 
maining 136 were Eepublicans. One of the first 
acts passed was somewhat anomalous. After de- 
fending the rights of the colored man on railroads, 
in theatres, etc., it provided that if a person whose 
rights under the act were claimed to be violated, 
was a negro, then the burden of proof should 
shift and be on the defendant, and he should 
be presumed to be guilty until he established his 
innocence. 

When the legislature met, they proceeded to fur- 
nish the halls at a cost of $50,000, for which they 



330 THE OLD SOUTH 

appropriated $95,000. This hall has since been 
entirely furnished at a cost of $3061. They paid 
out in four years, for furniture, over $200,000, and 
when, in 1877, the matter was investigated, it was 
found that, even placing what remained at the 
original purchase price, there was left by them in 
the State House only $17,715 worth; the rest had 
disappeared. 

" They opened another account, known under the 
vague but comprehensive head of l Supplies, sun- 
dries, and incidentals.' This amounted, in a single 
session, to $350,000. For six years they ran an 
open bar in one of the legislative committee rooms, 
open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., at which all the offi- 
cials and their friends helped themselves, without 
cost — save to the unfortunate and helpless tax- 
payers." 

They organized railroad frauds, election frauds, 
census frauds, general frauds — whatever they or- 
ganized was filled with fraud. They enlisted and 
equipped an armed force, the governor — one Scott 
— refusing to accept any but colored companies. 
Ninty-six thousand colored men were enrolled at a 
cost, for the simple enrolment, of over $200,000. 
One thousand Winchester rifles were obtained, for 
which the State was charged about $38,000 ; 
1,000,000 cartridges cost the State $37,000; 10,000 
Springfield muskets were bought, and charged at a 
cost, they claim, of $187,050; it was all charged 
to the State at $250,000. The troops, as organ- 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 331 

ized, were employed by Scott and the notorious 
Moses as their heelers and henchmen. The armed 
force, or constabulary, were armed and maintained 
for the same purpose (lb. Mr. Hemphill's paper, 
p. 94). 

Governor Scott spent $374,000 of the funds of 
the State in his canvass (lb. p. 95). Eight porters 
were employed in the State House ; they issued 
certificates to 238; eight laborers and from five 
to twenty pages were employed; certificates were 
issued to 159 of the former and 124 of the latter. 
One lot of 150 certificates were issued at once — all 
fraudulent. During one session pay certificates 
were issued to the amount of $1,168,255, all of 
which but $200,000 was untarnished robbery (lb. 
p. 99). 

The public printing was another field for their 
robbery. The total cost of the printing in South 
Carolina for the eight years of Republican domina- 
tion, 1868-76, was $1,326,589. The total cost 
for printing for 78 years previous — from 1790 
to 1868 — was $609,000, showing an excess for the 
cost of printing in eight years, over 78 years pre- 
vious, of $717,589. The average cost of the public 
printing under the Republican administration, per 
year, was $165,823 ; average cost per annum under 
Hampton's administration, $6178. The amount 
appropriated for one year, 1872-73, by the Repub- 
licans, for printing, was $450,000 ; amount appro- 
priated in 25 years ending in 1866, $278,251. 



332 THE OLD SOUTH 

Excess of one year's appropriation over 25 years, 
$171,749. The cost of printing in South Caro- 
lina, exceeded in one year by $122,932.13 the 
cost of like work in Massachusetts, New York, 
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Maryland together (lb. 
p. 100). 

In 1860 the taxable values in the State amounted 
to $490,000,000, and the tax to a little less than 
$400,000. In 1871 the taxable value had been re- 
duced to $184,000,000, and the tax increased to 
$2,000,000. In 19 counties taken together, 93,293 
acres of land were sold in one year for unpaid taxes. 
After four years of Republican rule, the debt of the 
State had increased from $5,407,306 to $18,515,033. 
There had been no public works of any importance, 
and the "entire thirteen millions of dollars repre- 
sented nothing but unnecessary and profligate ex- 
penditures and stealings" (lb. p. 102.) 

The governor's pardon was a matter of mere 
bargain and sale. During Moses's term of two 
years, he issued 457 pardons — pardoning during 
the last month of his tenure of office 46 of the 168 
convicts whom he had hitherto left in jail. 

In May, 1875, Governor Chamberlayne declared, 
in an interview with a correspondent of the Cincin- 
nati Commercial, that when at the end of Moses's 
administration he entered on his duties as governor, 
200 trial justices were holding offices by executive 
appointment who could neither read nor write (lb. 
p. 104). 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 333 

These statements are but fragments taken from 
the papers by Mr. Hemphill, Governor Hampton, 
and others, who cite the public records, and are 
simply statistics. No account has been taken of 
the imposition practised throughout the South 
during the period of negro domination ; of the vast, 
incredible, and wanton degradation of the South- 
ern people by the malefactors, who, with hoards of 
ignorant negroes just from the bonds of slavery as 
their instruments, trod down the once stately South 
at their will. No wonder that Governor Chamber- 
layne, Republican and carpet-bagger as he was, 
should have declared, as he did in writing to the 
New England Society : " The civilization of the 
Puritan and Cavalier, of the Roundhead and 
Huguenot, is in peril." 

A survey of the field and a careful consideration 
of the facts have convinced me that I am within 
the domain of truth, when I say that the Southern 
States, with the exception perhaps of one or two of 
the border States, were better off in 1868, when 
reconstruction went into force, than they were in 
1876, when the carpet-bag governments were finally 
overthrown; and that the eight years of negro 
domination in the South cost the South more than 
the entire cost of the war, inclusive of the loss of 
values in slave property. I think if Mr. Cable, and 
those who accept his theorem, will study the history 
of the Southern States, even as written only in the 
statistics, taking no account, if they please, of the 



334 THE OLD SOUTH 

suffering and the degradation inflicted upon the 
white race of the South during the period in which 
the South was under the dominion of the rulers se- 
lected by the negroes, they will find that there is not 
so much difference between the proposition which 
he formulates and that which the South states, 
when it declares that the pending question is one 
of race domination, on which depends the future 
salvation of the American people. 

Twenty-seven years have rolled by since the negro 
was given his freedom ; nearly twenty-five years 
have passed since he was given a part in the gov- 
ernment, and was taken up to be educated. The 
laws were so adapted that there is not now a 
negro under forty years old who has not had the 
opportunity to receive a public school education. 
Through private philanthropy these public schools 
(many of which are of a high grade) have been sup- 
plemented by institutions established on private 
foundations. That the negroes have had a not 
ungeneral ambition to attend school is apparent 
from the school attendance of the race, as shown 
by the statistics. The negro enrolment in the 
schools for the session 1878-88 being 1,140,405, 
or a little over one-half of their entire school pop- 
ulation. 

Besides this, every profession, every trade, every 
department of life have been open to him as to the 
white; he has had his own race as his constitu- 
ency ; he has possessed the backing of the North, 



THE KEGEO QUESTION 335 

and the good-will of the South. But what has he 
done ? What has he attained ? 

The South has viewed his political course with 
suspicion, and has opposed him with all her re- 
sources ; but she has not been mean or niggardly 
towards him. On the contrary, in every place, at 
all times, even whilst she was resisting and assail- 
ing him for his political action, she has displayed 
towards him in the expenditures for his educa- 
tion a liberality which, in relation to her ability, 
amounted to lavishness. 

The Eev. Dr. A. D. Mayo, eminent alike for his 
learning and philanthropy, and a Northern edu- 
cator, declared not long ago : " No other people in 
human history has made an effort so remarkable 
as the people of the South in re-establishing their 
schools and colleges. Overwhelmed by war and 
bad government, they have done wonders, and with 
the interest and zeal now felt in public schools in 
the South, the hope for the future is brighter than 
ever." "Last year," he says, speaking in 1888, 
"these sixteen States paid nearly $1,000,000 each 
for educational purposes, a sum greater according 
to their means than ten times the amount now paid 
by most of the New England States." 

Virginia has expended on her public schools, in- 
cluding the session of 1890-91, according to the 
figures of Colonel Ruffin, the Second Auditor of 
Virginia, taken from official sources, $23,380,309.97. 
Her negro schools cost her for the year 1889-90, by 



336 THE OLD SOUTH 

the same estimate, $420,000, of which the negroes 
paid about $ 60,000. 1 

1 Total amount of State and Local Taxes expended 
in Virginia on Public Schools from 1870-71 to 

1890-91 — 20 years $22,759,249.38 

Amount received from Peabody Fund 296,134.00 

Private contributions 324,926.59 

Total 23,380,309.97 

Cost of Negro education in Public Schools, in- 
cluding total Current Expenses $4,792,290.60 

Amounts appropriated by the State to Hampton 

and Virginia Normal Institutes 471,708.72 

Cost of permanent improvements, sites, buildings, 

etc., for Colored Schools 588,223.05 

Total cost of Colored Public Schools and Normal 

Institutes for 20 years 5,852,222.57 

Total cost of White Schools for same period 17,528,087,60 

Total of all Public Schools for same period 23,380,309.97 

Percentage of whole fund expended on white 

Schools 75.00 

Percentage of whole fund expended on Colored 

Schools 25.00 100.00 

Actual statistics for 1891 show the following facts : 

Total Taxes. Per cent of Whole. 

White $1,796,576.06 91.7 

Colored 163,175.67 8.3 

Total $1,959,751.73 100.0 

The U. S. Census for 1890 shows the population of Virginia to 
be as follows : 

Whites .1,015,123 = 61.3% 

Colored 640,857 = 38.7% 

Total 1,655,980 = 100.0% 

Thus showing that while the negroes comprise nearly four-tenths 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 337 

Governor Gordon, of Georgia, in a recent address, 
said of that State : " When her people secured pos- 
session of the State government, they found about 
six thousand colored pupils in the public schools, 
with the school exchequer bankrupt. To-day, in- 
stead of six thousand, we have over one hundred 
and sixty thousand colored pupils in the public 
schools, with the exchequer expanding and the 
schools multiplying year by year." He says fur- 
ther, "The negroes pay one-thirtieth of the ex- 
pense, and the other twenty-nine thirtieths are 
paid by the whites." 

The other Southern States have not been behind 
Virginia and Georgia in this matter. 

Now what has the negro accomplished in this 
quarter of a century ? The picture drawn by 

of the population, they furnish less than one-tenth of the amount 
expended on public schools. 

The number of Public Schools for the year f White, 5358 1 _ .. 

1889-90 was 1 Colored, 2153 J 

The total cost of Public Schools for the year 1889- 

90 was $1,604,508.80 

The cost of Negro Schools for the same year was 

about 420,000.00 

Now, if we use the percentages given above, and allow all 
the taxes paid by negroes (on both personal and real property) 
to go into the School Fund, we will see that there was a deficit 
of $256,824.33 to be made up from the taxes paid by white peo- 
ple, or, in other words, the total amount of taxes on personal 
and real property paid by the negroes will cover less than half 
the expense of their schools alone. 



338 THE OLD SOUTH 

Dr. Field of his accomplishment in Massachusetts 
would do for the South. 

"They work in the fields, they hoe corn, they 
dig potatoes ; the women take in washing." They 
are barbers and white-washers, shoe-blacks and 
chimney-sweeps. Here and there we find a lawyer 
or two, unhappily with their practice in inverse 
ratio to their principle. Or now and then there is 
a doctor. But almost invariably these are men 
with a considerable infusion of white blood in their 
veins. And even they have, in no single instance, 
attained a position which in a white would be 
deemed above mediocrity. Fifteen years ago there 
were in Richmond a number of negro tobacco and 
other manufacturers in a small way. Now there 
are hardly any except undertakers. 

They do not appear to possess the faculties which 
are essential to conduct any business in which rea- 
son has to be applied beyond the immediate act in 
hand. 

They lack the faculty of organization on which 
rests all successful business enterprise. 

They have been losing ground as mechanics. 
Before the war, on every plantation there were 
first-class carpenters, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, 
etc. Half the houses in Virginia were built by 
negro carpenters. Now where are they ? In Bich- 
mond there may be a few blacksmiths and a dozen 
or two carpenters ; but where are the others ? 

A great strike occurred last year in one of the 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 339 

large iron-works of the city of Richmond. The 
president of the company told me afterwards that, 
although the places at the machines were filled 
later on by volunteers, and although there were 
many negroes employed in the works who did not 
strike, it never occurred to either the management 
or to the negroes that they could work at the 
machines, and not one had ever suggested it. 

The question naturally arises, Have they im- 
proved ? Many persons declare that they have 
not. My observation has led to- a somewhat dif- 
ferent conclusion. Where they have been brought 
into contact with the stronger race under condi- 
tions in which they derived aid, as in cities, they 
have in certain directions improved ; where they 
have lacked this stimulating influence, as in sec- 
tions of the country where the association has 
steadily diminished, they have failed to advance. 
In the cities, where they are in touch with the 
whites, they are, I think, becoming more dignified, 
more self-respecting, more reasonable ; in the coun- 
try, where they are left to themselves, I fail to see 
this improvement. 

This improvement, however, such as it is, does 
not do away with the race issue. So far from it, it 
rather intensifies the feeling, certainly on the part 
of the negro, and makes the relation more strained. 
Yet it is our only hope. The white race, it is 
reasonably certain, is not going to be ruled by the 
negro either North or South. That day is far off, 



340 THE OLD SOUTH 

and neither Lodge bills nor any other bills can 
bring it until they can reverse natural law, enact 
that ignorance shall be above intelligence, and 
exalt feebleness over strength. The history of 
that race is a guaranty that this cannot be. It has 
been a conquering race from its first appearance, 
like the Scandinavians of old from which it partly 
came, 

Firm to resolve and steadfast to endure. 

The section of it which inhabits the United 
States is not yet degenerate. That part of it at 
the South is not. It is not necessary to recall its 
history. It is one of the finest pages in the his- 
tory of the human race. Let one who has not 
been generally regarded as unduly biassed in favor 
of the South speak for it. Senator Hoar, speaking 
of the people of the South on the floor of the Sen- 
ate, in the speech already referred to, said : 

They have some qualities which I cannot even presume 
to claim in an equal degree for the people among whom I, 
myself, dwell. They have an aptness for command which 
makes the Southern gentleman, wherever he goes, not a 
peer only, but a prince. They have a love for home ; they 
have, the best of them, and the most of them, inherited 
from the great race from which they come, the sense of 
duty and the instinct of honor as no other people on the 
face of the earth. They are lovers of home. They have 
not the mean traits which grow up somewhere in places 
where money-making is the chief end of life. They have, 
above all, and giving value to all, that supreme and superb 
constancy which, without regard to personal ambition and 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 341 

without yielding to the temptation of wealth, without get- 
ting tired and without getting diverted, can pursue a great 
public object, in and out, year after year and generation 
after generation. 

This is the race which the negro confronts. It 
is a race which, whatever perils have impended, 
has always faced thern with a steadfast mind. 

Professor James Bryce in a recent paper on the 
negro question arrives at the only reasonable con- 
clusion : that the negro be let alone and the solu- 
tion of the problem be left to the course of events. 
Friendship for the negro demands this. It has 
become the fashion of late for certain negro leaders 
to talk in conventions held outside of the South of 
fighting for their rights. For their own sake and 
that of their race, let them take it out in talking. 
A single outbreak would settle the question. To 
us of the South it appears that a proper race pride 
is one of the strongest securities of our nation. 
ISTo people can become great without it. Without 
it no people can remain great. We propose to 
stand upon it. 

The question now remains, What is to become 
of the negro ? It is not likely that he will remain 
in his present status, if, indeed, it is possible for 
him to do so. Many schemes have been suggested, 
none of them alone answerable to the end pro- 
posed. The deportation plan does not seem practi- 
cable at present. It is easy to suggest theories, 
but much more difficult to substantiate them. I 



342 THE OLD SOUTH 

hazard one based upon much reflection on the sub. 
ject. It is, that the negro race in America will 
eventually disappear, not in a generation or a cen- 
tury, — it may take several centuries. The means 
will be natural. Certain portions of the Southern 
States will for a while, perhaps, be almost given 
up to him ; but in time he will be crowded out 
even there. Africa may take a part ; Mexico and 
South America a part ; the rest will, as the coun- 
try fills up, as life grows harder and competition 
fiercer, become diffused and will disappear, a por- 
tion, perhaps, not large, by absorption into the 
stronger race, the residue by perishing under condi- 
tions of life unsuited to him. The ratio of the 
death rate of the race is already much larger than 
that of the white. Consumption and zymotic dis- 
eases are already making their inroads. 1 

Meantime he is here, and something must be 
done. In the first place, let us have all the light 
that can be thrown on the subject. Form an 
organization to consider and deal with the subject, 
not in the spirit of narrowness or temper, but in a 
spirit of philosophic deliberation, such as becomes 
a great people discussing a great question which 
concerns not only their present but their future 
position among the nations. We shall then get at 
the right of the matter. 

Let us do our utmost to eliminate from the ques- 
tion the complication of its political features. 
1 See " Vital Statistics of the Negro." Cited supra. 



THE NEGRO QUESTION 343 

Get politics out of it, and the problem will be 
more than half solved. Senator Hampton stated 
not long ago in a paper contributed by him, I 
think, to the North American Review, that, to get 
the negro out of politics, he would gladly give up 
the representation based on his vote. Could any- 
thing throw a stronger light on the apprehension 
with which the negro in politics is regarded at the 
South ? 

There never was any question more befogged 
with demagogism than that of manhood suffrage. 
Let us apply ourselves to the securing some more 
reasonable and better basis for the suffrage. Let 
us establish such a proper qualification as a condi- 
tion to the possession of the elective franchise 
as shall leave the ballot only to those who hav& 
intelligence enough to use it as an instrument to 
secure good government rather than to destroy it. 
In taking this step we have to plant ourselves on 
a broader principle than that of a race qualifica- 
tion. It is not merely the negro, it is ignorance 
and venality which we want to disfranchise. If we 
can disfranchise these we need not fear the voter, 
whatever the color. At present it is not the negro 
who is disfranchised, but the white. We dare not 
divide. 

Having limited him in a franchise which he hab 
not in a generation learned to use, continue to 
teach him. It is from the educated negro, that is, 
the negro who is more enlightened than the gen- 



344 THE OLD SOUTH 

eral body of his race, that order must come. The 
ignorance, venality, and superstition of the average 
negro are dangerous to us. Education will divide 
them and will uplift them. They may learn in 
time that if they wish to rise they must look to 
the essential qualities of good citizenship. In this 
way alone can the race or any part of the race look 
for ultimate salvation. 

It has appeared to some that the South has not 
done its full duty by the negro. Perfection is, 
without doubt, a standard above humanity , but, at 
least, we of the South can say that we have done 
much for him; if we have not admitted him to 
social equality, it has been under an instinct 
stronger than reason, and in obedience to a law 
higher than is on the statute books : the law of 
self-preservation. Slavery, whatever its demerits, 
was not in its time the unmitigated evil it is 
fancied to have been. Its time has passed. No 
power could compel the South to have it back. 
But to the negro it was salvation. It found him a 
savage and a cannibal and in two hundred years gave 
seven millions of his race a civilization, the only 
civilization it has had since the dawn of history. 

We have educated him ; we have aided him ; we 
have sustained him in all right directions. We are 
ready to continue our aid ; but we will not be dom- 
inated by him. When we shall be, it is our settled 
conviction that we shall deserve the degradation 
into which we shall have sunk. 



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014 443 701 9 





